If you ever receive a direct message on Instagram informing you that copyright infringement has been detected in your photos, beware: it may actually be a cleverly-disguised phishing scam.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York has re-opened the controversial copyright infringement lawsuit filed by photographer Stephanie Sinclair against the publication Mashable, who embedded one of her images through Instagram after she denied their request to license the photo for an article.
Automotive photographer Jack Schroeder and model Britni Sumida have filed a major lawsuit against car maker Volvo, accusing the automotive giant of doing significant damage to both of their careers by willfully using Schroeder's images without permission, after he explicitly denied the company's request.
Instagram just released a bombshell statement about copyright infringement. In response to recent developments in a lawsuit between a pro photographer and Newsweek, the photo sharing site told Ars Technica that it does NOT grant a sub-license to anyone who uses their "embed" feature to share a public photo.
Photographer Matilde Gattoni is suing Microsoft corporation for millions of dollars in damages after she discovered that company-owned publication MSN used several of her images in an article about "the women leading China's wine revolution" without paying to license them or asking for permission.
The past few years have made it abundantly clear that platforms hold disproportionate power in the online sphere – from Uber to Grubhub to Amazon. Online success is predicated on building both utility as well as a critical mass of users, and for that, platforms should be congratulated.
A federal court has tossed a photographer's claim of copyright infringement against a major online publication that embedded her Instagram photo against her wishes. The court concluded that the photographer signed over the right of embedding by posting the shot to the photo sharing service.
Last night, once the kids were safely nestled in bed and only the wife and I remained awake, I reached for my iPhone, opened up the Remote app to fire up my Apple TV, launched Apple TV+, and hit play on one of the tech giant's newest shows: Amazing Stories.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court of the United States dealt a major blow to photographers' copyright protections when it declared that states cannot be sued for copyright infringement because they have "sovereign immunity."
Photographer Rosie Hardy recently recently opened a pandora's box of image theft and appropriation when she discovered that several of her images were being shared as "free to use" stickers through the PicsArt photo editing app. After a bit of digging, she found that her stolen photos had been used without permission, credit, or compensation over 1,500 times.
“American Chopper” star Paul Teutul has lost a copyright infringement lawsuit and is being ordered by a judge to pay the photographer over a quarter of a million dollars for using photos without permission.
After Lady Gaga's new song "Stupid Love" leaked onto the Internet and went viral last weekend, the singer called out fans who had listened to the unauthorized release. Problem was, Lady Gaga's Tweet used "pirated" stock photos that had "Shutterstock" watermarks splashed across them, and this unauthorized usage didn't escape the company's notice.
Two former photographers for the New York Times have filed a lawsuit against New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, accusing the department of copyright infringement after NYC Parks "unearthed" a long-lost trove of photos from the 1970s and then wildly publicized them without permission.
Typically, when a celebrity is called out for posting a photograph without permission, they lash out or deny any wrongdoing. It's so common we've almost come to expect it, which is why it's such a nice change of pace to hear that New Zealand Rugby star Sonny Bill Williams actually apologized to the photographer after having a photo pulled from Instagram for sharing it without permission.
No fewer than 5 different sources sent us the same article this morning from photographer Jason Weingart, in which the extreme weather photog accuses digital artist Brent Shavnore of willfully stealing his images, calling him a "thief, poser, coward, and a liar." Shavnore tells PetaPixel that the entire issue is a misunderstanding, and accuses Weingart of being "childish."
Earlier this week, supermodel Gigi Hadid's lawyers successfully got a copyright case against her dismissed despite the fact that most people thought this was a clear cut case of infringement. The important question for photographers now is: how did her lawyers manage to pull this off?
The CASE Act, a major piece of legislation that would introduce a small claims court for copyright infringement cases, has officially been passed by Senate Judiciary Committee, clearing the way for a full vote on the Senate floor.
Renowned photographer Nadav Kander was recently surprised to find one of his portraits used without permission on the cover of a magazine. When confronted with this, the magazine's explanation was that the image was purchased as a stock photo -- a stock photo of the copyrighted photo in an exhibition.
A District Judge in Manhattan has sided with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in a fair use case that will likely leave many photographers upset. The case surrounds a set of screen prints, silk-screen paintings and other artworks that Warhol created for Vanity Fair by altering a portrait by renowned photographer Lynn Goldsmith.
Famous model Gigi Hadid is being sued by a photo agency for posting a copyrighted photo of her on Instagram without permission. Hadid is now arguing that it was "fair use" because she contributed to the photo by smiling in it.
Photographers were just dealt a big legal blow this week after a Texas state appeals court ruled that the state can infringe upon copyright without risking punishment under the state's or federal government's "takings" clause.
Ariana Grande made headlines a couple of months ago for striking back at "greedy photographers" with a concert tour photo contract that demands full copyright to photos. Now the singer is being sued by a photographer for posting his photos of her without permission on Instagram.
In July of 2018, a Virginia federal court sparked an uproar among photographers by ruling that finding a photo on the Internet and using it without permission on a commercial website can be fair use. Good news: an appeals court reversed the decision today in a big win for photographers (and other creatives).
Flickr has just announced a new partnership with the image monitoring and legal-tech service Pixsy to create the world's first fully integrated end-to-end solution for combating photo theft.
Mercedes has filed lawsuits against four artists after they accused the car company of infringing upon their copyright by including graffiti murals in the backgrounds of car photos posted to Instagram.
Well-known New York City-based fashion photographer Dani Diamond was contacted by a fan in 2017 after the fan spotted one of Diamond's photos featured in a Lufthansa in-flight magazine ad promoting a "Bellevue Swiss Made" watch. Problem was, Diamond had never licensed his photos for any such use.
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.
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.
With the explosion of social media and photo sharing, personal pictures commonly go viral and make their way onto major news websites, sometimes without the photographers' permission. But a judge has just ruled that media companies can't simply steal social media photos whenever they see fit.
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.
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.
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.