A federal court judge in Montana has sparked controversy among photographers after he ruled that the Republican National Committee (RNC) didn't infringe a photographer's copyright when it used her photo without permission on a political mailer.
Kodak launched an on-demand photography service called Kodakit back in January 2017 that aims to connect photographers to brands looking for photography. But there's something all photographers need to know about this "Uber of photography," as it's been called: it demands that you sign over the "entire copyright" to the photos you shoot.
In September 2018, the European Parliament voted in favor of the highly controversial EU Copyright Directive, which aims to "harmonize" copyright law across Europe. But critics argue the law could destroy the open Web, and now Google is showing an eye-opening look at what its search results could soon look like.
Photographer J Salmeron of Metal Blast sparked a huge outpouring of support from other photographers and creatives last week after he shared how he was blacklisted by the band Arch Enemy while trying to protect his copyright. Now the clothing business at the center of the controversy has closed up shop in response to all the "hate and threats" it has received.
Back in June I covered Fortarock, a fantastic metal festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I had the opportunity to shoot bands like Dragonforce, Watain, Týr, Alestorm and Arch Enemy, all of whom are not only really fun to photograph, but also extremely talented musicians.
Google is taking another big step in protecting photographers' copyright through the Google Images image search engine: it just added image rights metadata to the photo search results on Google Images.
A real estate photographer has filed a lawsuit against Zillow, accusing the popular online real estate database of using his photos without permission.
A Montana photographer has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the media juggernaut of using one of his storm photos without permission for the hit sci-fi show Stranger Things.
The European Parliament yesterday voted in favor of the highly controversial EU Copyright Directive, which is intended to bring EU copyright laws into the Internet age. Critics have called the directive "disastrous" and warned that it could fundamentally destroy the open Web.
A few days ago, I awoke to a text message from a friend who lives halfway around the world telling me that he had unexpectedly seen one of my images on a FOX News story. The image was from a photoshoot that I had done of Richard “Old Man” Harrison from the television show Pawn Stars, which airs on the History Channel. However, after looking it up and seeing what photo he was talking about, I was surprised. The photo I was met with wasn’t even one I remembered taking.
A Virginia federal court sparked quite a controversy among photographers last month when it ruled that copying photos found on the Internet is fair use. Now a European Union court has just issued a landmark ruling that states you can't simply republish a photo because it's freely accessible online -- you need the photographer's permission first.
Back in 2010, the United States Postal Service (USPS) released a now-famous Statue of Liberty "forever" stamp. But it was soon discovered that the small stamp had a big problem: instead of showing the actual Statue of Liberty in New York, the selected photo shows the copyrighted replica that's found in Las Vegas. Now a federal court has ordered that the USPS must pay $3.5 million for its mistake.
A Virginia federal court has made a decision that photographers won't be happy to hear: the court ruled that finding a photo on the Internet and then using it without permission on a commercial website can be considered fair use.
Just this past week, the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs approved amendments to EU’s Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, which includes the infamous Article 13.
Daryl Aiden Yow is a Singapore-based photographer and social media influencer who has over 100,000 followers on Instagram. He's at the center of controversy today after it was found that many of his Instagram photos were actually uncredited images shot by others.
The most recent version of the Copyright Law of the United States (December 2016) weighs in at a whopping 354 pages. And while there are areas of ambiguity, the basics and benefits of copyright registration for photographers are well-documented. Unfortunately, well-documented doesn’t mean well-understood, so we asked attorney (and former photo rep) Leslie Burns to weigh in on a number of common copyright misconceptions that still persist, and why you should register your copyright.
Update: Fox News claims it licensed Robinson's images legally through another channel after being directly rejected by the photographer. See the network's statement below.
Over the weekend, Ellicott City, Maryland was pummeled by massive rainfall, which triggered devastating flash floods through the historic district of town. Resident Max Robinson was trapped in an apartment building near Main St and Maryland Ave when he started documenting what transpired on Twitter.
Photographers Tony and Chelsea Northrup were shocked when they discovered one of their photos being used on a product's packaging without their knowledge or permission. They then sued the photo thief and collected AU$60,000 (~$45,000) for the offense. Here's a 26-minute video in which they share the story of how it all happened.
Well-known British filmmaker Philip Bloom is accusing Google of using his work without permission or payment for an internal video that has since been leaked and published by major publications.
Photographer Sean R. Heavey was watching the hit series Stranger Things on Netflix when he spotted a storm cloud that looked strangely familiar. It turns out the show had apparently used one of Heavey's photos while creating the scene, and Heavey isn't happy about it.
Photographers commonly deal with photos being used without permission these days, but oftentimes infringements can be resolved in a friendly and agreeable way. Concert photographer Adrienne Row-Smith recently experienced the opposite: after asking nicely that her misused photos be taken down, Row-Smith received some angry words for a music label.
Photographer David Slater has won his legal battle over that monkey selfie. A US appeals court ruled Monday that US copyright law doesn't allow animals to file copyright infringement lawsuits.
Photographer David Slater's legal nightmare surrounding that monkey selfie snapped in 2011 isn't over. A US court has decided not to toss the copyright lawsuit filed against Slater by PETA on the monkey's behalf, despite Slater and PETA reaching a settlement last year.
A well-known insect photographer has filed a $2.7 million copyright infringement lawsuit against a pest-control company. He accuses the businesses of using his photos without permission on its website.
Notable American photographer Kalliope Amorphous has published a warning to other photographers who are considering protecting their copyright using ImageRights International. She accuses the company of an "egregious grab" that forces photographers to use the company's legal services.
Google has removed the "View Image" button from its Image Search results that had allowed anyone to quickly download the original image file while bypassing the host webpage. This is a step Google is taking to help protect photographers' copyrights.
Google Images is an epicenter of copyright infringements across the Web, as people, either knowingly or unwittingly, search for, download, and misuse copyrighted photos without permission. But for photographers, there's some good news: Google is going to roll out changes to the image search engine that are designed to help protect your copyright.
A few months ago, a girl came in to apply for a social media position at my last job. I was one of three photographers at the company and we had an opening for another photographer position. She mentioned to the HR recruiter that she also does photography.
Jessica Simpson recently shared a photo of herself leaving a hotel on Instagram and Twitter. Problem was, it was a paparazzi photo and she didn't have permission to use the photo. The 37-year-old singer is now being sued for copyright infringement.
The US Copyright Office has just announced new rules regarding the group registration of photographs. One of the biggest changes is the fact that only 750 unpublished photos can be registered at a time with each claim, when previously there was no limit. For photographers who regularly register extremely large batches of unpublished photos, copyright registration will soon be much more expensive.