court

Graffiti Artist Sues Production Companies for $45K for Using His Tag in Their Show and Promo Materials

The next time you want to photograph some cool graffiti, you might want to think twice... you could get sued by the artist if that picture makes it big.

After the popular Canadian drama 30 Vies aired, graffiti artist Alexandre Veilleux recognized a tag of his in the opening sequence. Now, Veilleux -- who goes by Alex Scaner in the graffiti community -- is seeking $45k in damages from Radio-Canada and Productions Aetios Inc., stating they used his work without permission.

Judge Rules Model’s Lawsuit Against Getty Will Go to Trial

Several months after model Avril Nolan sued stock photography giant Getty Images for displaying her portrait and licensing it to the New York State Division of Human Rights for an HIV-related advertisement, a judge ruled the lawsuit will be taken to court rather than dismissed as Getty had hoped for.

Photographer Wins Big in Copyright Case, $1.6M Big

It's always nice when we stumble across a copyright case that doesn't lead to wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, rare as that might be. So when we ran across the news that a photographer pulled in $1.6 million in a copyright lawsuit, we just had to share it.

Olympus Executives Manage to Avoid Jail Time After Committing $1.7 Billion Fraud

The Olympus financial scandal -- you know, the one that was discovered all the way back in October of 2011 -- has been trying to reach a conclusion for some time now. But now that the Japanese justice system has reached a decision, many won't be happy with the end result. Namely: all of the major players in the $1.7 billion scandal have managed to avoid jail time entirely, at least for now.

Leica M: The Standard for Silent Shutters in United States Courtrooms

If you've ever shot with a Leica M rangefinder camera, you probably know how effective the camera can be for stealthy shooting. After all, there's no mirror that needs to swing out of the way like there is in a DSLR, so the main sound you'll hear is the soft click of the shutter curtain flapping open to expose the film or sensor.

It's not just Leica aficionados that appreciate the silent shutter: did you know that the Leica M is held as the standard for silent photography in courtrooms across the United States?

Ex-Olympus Chief Faces Five Years in Jail For His Role in $1.7 Billion Fraud

Former Olympus president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa may soon spend up to five years of his life in prison for his role in Olympus' massive financial scandal that rocked corporate Japan back in 2011. Prosecutors allege that Kikukawa orchestrated a coverup of $1.7 billion in company losses, one of the biggest frauds in Japanese history and the country's equivalent of America's Enron scandal.

Instagram Trying to Have Policy Change Class Action Lawsuit Thrown Out

In December 2012, Instagram took steps toward profitability by adding some controversial monetization-related sections to its Terms of Service. The resulting outcry led to key sections being restored to original 2010 versions, but that didn't stop a certain user named Lucy Funes from launching a class action lawsuit against the photo sharing service.

The latest news in the saga is that Instagram is now asking that the lawsuit be thrown out.

US Court of Appeals Considers Releasing Bin Laden Postmortem Photos

The debate over whether or not the US Government should release photos of Osama Bin Laden's body has been going on ever since his death at the hands of Seal Team 6 in May of 2011. Last April, it seemed that the book had closed on the matter when a federal judge ruled not to release the photos for various reasons.

But certain parties -- the conservative legal group Judicial Watch in this case -- refuse to take no for an answer, leading the US Court of Appeals in Washington to take another look at the matter.

Former Olympus Executives Plead Guilty to Carrying Out Massive Financial Fraud

It looks like the Olympus financial scandal is finally coming to an end. It has been nearly a year since it came to light that there were massive cases of fraud and coverups going on in the upper echelons of Olympus management. What started as a CEO's firing quickly spiraled into one of the biggest scandals to ever hit corporate Japan -- the country's equivalent of the US' Enron fiasco.

In the end, a number of the company's top executives were arrested after submitting their resignations. The trials for those former bigwigs are only now starting to get underway. Three of them, including former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa (pictured above), pleaded guilty today to charges of falsifying accounts and covering up more than $1 billion in losses. The camera company itself also filed a guilty plea.

Divorced Man Sues Photographer for $48,000 To Recreate 2003 Wedding

It's not uncommon to hear stories of wedding photographers getting sued by unsatisfied clients, but one lawsuit currently underway in New York is causing quite a stir. Todd Remis (pictured on right) of Manhattan is suing 65-year-old studio H & H Photographers (on left), claiming that the photographers had missed the final 15 minutes of the wedding that included the last dance and bouquet toss.

Court Upholds Citizens’ Right to Turn Cameras on Police Officers

Boston lawyer Simon Glik was arrested on October 1, 2007 when he used his cell phone to record officers making a drug arrest, and later sued the city and the officers for violating his rights. After the officers tried to having the lawsuit dismissed on the basis of qualified immunity, a Federal Appeals Court denied the motion last week and ruled that filming and photographing police is in fact protected by the First Amendment.

Venezuelan Court Bans Papers From Running Violent Photos

A Venezuelan court ordered newspaper El Nacional not to print violent images after the paper published a controversial image of dead bodies piled up in a Caracas morgue.

The photo, taken by an El Nacional photographer in December, ran with a story last Friday about security problems in the country. On Monday, the image was picked up by another newspaper, Tal Cual.

The Venezuelan government deemed the decision to run the photo as a part of a campaign criticizing current president Hugo Chavez, in light of the upcoming September elections.

The court ordered El Nacional and Tal Cual to not publish violent photos, saying the ruling is to protect children:
"(The print media) should abstain from publishing violent, bloody or grotesque images, whether of crime or not, that in one way or another threaten the moral and psychological state of children."
El Nacional responded to the ruling on Wednesday by running a front-page story about what they call censorship, along with large blank spaces with "Censored" stamped across where photos usually run.