One of the big stories in the tech world this weekend was a policy brief published by the Republican Study Committee titled "Three Myths About Copyright Law and Where to Start to Fix It," which people called "shockingly sensible" and a "watershed" paper. However, just one day after it went up, the paper suddenly vanished.
Photographer Jessica Nichols' most popular photograph on her Flickr account (above left) is titled "Loads of Ranunculus" and has more than 10,000 views. Nichols got a nasty shock a year ago when she discovered that American fashion designer Chris Benz had apparently turned the photo into numerous clothing designs for his Spring 2012 line, without Nichols' knowing and/or permission. Since July of this year, Nichols has been fighting against the infringement in an attempt to get the designer to …
A big win for photographers in Canada: as of today, you now officially own the copyright to all your photographs regardless of whether they were commissioned. The development comes as a result of Canada major copyright reform bill (Bill C-11) taking effect this morning. One of the stated goals of the new copyright law is to, "give photographers the same rights as other creators."
As you make your way to polling places today to cast your votes, you might want to look into your state's laws before pulling out your camera and snapping photographs inside your voting booth. Certain states have pretty strict laws with regard to snapping and sharing photographs of ballots. Earlier this year, Wisconsin election officials specifically warned voters that sharing photos of ballots on Facebook or Twitter is a Class I felony, punishable by up to 18 months in prison and a $10K fine.
Well, this can't be good for photographers' rights: An anonymous man over in Seattle, Washington is causing a stir in his area and on the web by walking up to random people in various locations -- both public and private -- and sticking a camera in their faces to film them. When asked to explain his actions, he simply responds in vague statements such as "It's OK, I'm just recording video."
Yesterday we reported that Nikon Photo Contest is no longer accepting film photos starting this year. Turns out it's not the only prestigious photo contest with rules that are causing some discussion.
A 16-year-old aspiring journalist named Jakub Markiewicz was arrested last month at the shopping mall Metropolis at Metrotown, the 2nd largest mall in Canada. After photographing security guards arresting a man, he was unable to comply with multiple demands to delete the photographs he had taken... from a film camera.
The National Press Photographers Association announced this week that it will be joining a major lawsuit filed against NYC and the NYPD for civil rights violations during the Occupy Wall Street protests.
Donalee Moulton over at The Lawyers Weekly has an article describing how EXIF data is beginning to be accepted as valuable evidence in courtrooms -- at least in Canada:
Copyright infringement of photographs is anything but uncommon in this Internet age, as countless images are published all across the web every day without the owners' consent. The problem is so widespread that virtually everyone gets away with it. The ones that don't, however, are occasionally in for a good deal of pain.
Apple is constantly engaged in its fair share of courtroom battles, but its latest one hits a little closer to home for photographers. Swiss photographer Sabine Liewald has filed a lawsuit against Apple for using her "Eye Closeup" photograph to promote the 15-inch MacBook Pro's Retina Display.
The next time you're photographing clouds, make sure those clouds aren't hovering over a location that's considered "sensitive". National Weather Service volunteer Michael Galindo learned this lesson last month after pulling over to the side of the road near Houston to snap a photo of storm clouds brewing in the distance (shown above). Problem was, between Galindo and the clouds sat the Lyondell Refinery.
Facebook takes the copyright infringement of photographs seriously. So seriously that it doesn't think twice about instantly -- and permanently -- nuking offending pages, regardless of how popular those pages are. Case in point: two months ago, popular trend hunting blog The Cool Hunter had its popular page abruptly deleted; the page boasted over 788,000 fans, contained five years' worth of content, and was a huge source of traffic for the company's website. Facebook has since stated that the …
Back in 1992, Los Angeles-based photographer Laura London lived down the street from the singer of the rock band. The singer's name was Axl Rose. The band was Gunz N' Roses.
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.
You might want to think twice the next time you snap a photo containing Canadian currency: the Royal Canadian Mint says that it holds copyright over those images.
Shepard Fairey avoided jail time after all. The Obama HOPE poster artist was sentenced today to two years of probation and a $25,000 fine for using an AP photo without permission and then destroying evidence to cover his tracks. The New York Times writes that the entire dispute will be an interesting case study for fair use law: …
Did you know that in California, "rights of publicity" are transfered to a celebrity's heirs after the celebrity dies? This means that photos of the famous individual may continue to be subject to the heir's licensing fees when the photo owners want to license them out for use in commercial products. A court ruling issued last week provides an interesting case study into how this California law can affect photography rights. PDN writes, …
Shepard Fairey has spent the past few years fighting a messy legal battle with photographer Mannie Garcia and the Associated Press over his use of a portrait of Obama his iconic HOPE poster. He has raked in a significant amount of dough from the artwork, but may now face jail time for foolishly attempting to destroy evidence when the copyright infringement investigation began. The Smoking Gun reports, …
If you're a street photography-loving New Yorker who's worried about being stopped and harassed by the New York Police Department, check out this official memo that was sent out to officers back in 2009.
Freelance paparazzi photographer Paul Raef was arrested back on July 6th after chasing Justin Bieber on 101 Freeway, becoming the first person charged under a new anti-paparazzi law signed by former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Raef is currently facing four misdemeanors, with two of them being "following another vehicle too closely and reckless driving, with the intent to capture pictures for commercial gain." The punishment is up to one year in jail and $3,500 in fines.
Bad news for photographers in Southern California: the Los Angeles Police Department issued a notice regarding its official terrorism handling policy earlier this week, and the document still identifies photographers as potential terrorists.
People do some pretty dumb things on reality TV shows, but perhaps none more asinine than this. During the filming of the Discovery Channel's reality TV show The Devils Ride back in January, the camera crew captured footage of a confrontation between one of the show's subjects and photographer Ashi Fachler, who was taking pictures from a public sidewalk. Here's the description of the clip above (warning: it's pretty disturbing): …
You know that FBI anti-piracy seal that appears at the beginning of home movies? The one that's displayed alongside the messsage, "The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment"? Well, you can now use it to remind would-be infringers that your photographs are copyrighted.
The New York Times has published a great interview with Michael H. Osterreicher, the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association and the editor of the organization's advocacy blog. In it, NYT Lens Blog co-editor James Estrin asks Osterreicher about photographers' rights and the trend of people being stopped while shooting public locations.
The Portland Press Herald has agreed to fork over $400 to a woman named Audrey Ann Slade after its use of one of Slade's photos sparked a furious fair use debate online. The paper published a story last week about Reverend Robert Carlson, a minister who committed suicide recently after being accused of abusing young boys. Specifically, the piece reported on the fact that Slade's photos proved that Carlson continued to engage in on-campus events after resigning abruptly in 2006 from his position …
It's like "déjà vu all over again": New York Times freelance photographer Robert Stolarik was arrested this past Saturday while on assignment in the Bronx. As he was taking photographs of a developing street fight, Stolarik was confronted by officers, ordered to stop, and then allegedly assaulted.
Here's a quick update by Gary Fong on the wedding photographer who's being threatened with a $300,000 lawsuit by a client who says that he didn't like the images. The photographer's name is Nelson Tang, and we learn that Tang has received a followup letter that appeared at first glance to be a lawsuit, but lacked a necessary court stamp at the bottom. This messy case has going viral online and has everyone shouting "extortion".
Well, that didn't take long. Just one day after Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued a directive ordering officers to leave photographers alone (PDF here), a police officer reportedly snatched a man's camera at a crime scene and later returned it without the memory card.
Photographer and entrepreneur Gary Fong was recently contacted by a wedding photographer who found himself in a pickle: after doing a "great job" (in Fong's opinion) in shooting a wedding, he received a menacing letter from the couple threatening him with a $300,000 lawsuit. The video above shows Fong reading the letter -- which sounds an awful lot like blackmail -- and explaining some of the mistakes made by the photographer. The main takeaway: always sign a contract!
One of the reasons photographers raise a fuss when their rights are infringed upon is to create awareness in the general public and among law enforcement. A recent lawsuit between a photojournalist and the Washington DC police department has done just that. The Washington Post reports: …
The University of California has agreed to dish out a $162,500 settlement to David Morse, a 43-year-old photographer who was arrested back in 2009 while covering a student protest.
The UK government issued an updated copyright policy statement today that's intended to modernize copyright law in a digital era. But here's where those traditionally protected under copyright -- authors, poets, artists, photographers and so forth -- begin to cringe: sweeping definitions of "orphan works" and Extended Collective Licensing could allow companies to buy chunks of content without compensating original authors.
Minority owner of the recently-crowned national champion Miami Heat, Raanan Katz, has been making waves all over the Internet the past few days over a controversial lawsuit regarding a photo of himself that he has deemed unflattering (seen above). The lawsuit is directed at both the originating blogger and Google (who refused to take down the photo), and according to paidContent, Katz is requesting that damages be paid him by both parties.
A couple of weeks ago Nikon became the center of a heated debate when, without explanation, they cancelled Korean photographer Ahn Se-hong's Comfort Women exhibit. The exhibit, which was scheduled to begin tomorrow on June 26th at the Nikon Salon in Tokyo, was complied by Se-hong over the course of 11-years, and brings attention to Korean women who were used as sex slaves or "comfort women" for Japanese soldiers during World War II. Needless to say, the decision came as quite a shock, …
Backing up your photos is always a good idea, but if your storage device failed and the photos you lost consisted of some very precious family memories, would you hold the hard drive company responsible? Lawyer Perminder Tung would, which is why he is currently suing Apple over the photos of his first child's birth that were lost when his Apple Time Capsule failed.
When photographer Mannie Garcia -- known best, perhaps, for his iconic photograph of President Obama -- was arrested for disorderly conduct while recording Maryland police officers performing an arrest, he didn't realize that it would mean the loss of his White House credentials. And although he was eventually acquitted and given back his camera (with the memory card missing), the damage had already been done and Garcia is looking to hold someone accountable.
Martha Payne, a 9-year-old girl in Scotland, started her photoblog NeverSeconds as a writing exercise. With her school's permission, she photographed her school meals and offered some commentary to go along with the pictures. The blog soon went viral, amassing millions of views and attracting the attention of Jamie Oliver. As children around the world began sending in photos of their school meals, the blog abruptly ended yesterday with a post titled "Goodbye".
A couple of weeks ago, reports confirmed that Olympus ex-CEO Michael Woodford would be settling with his former employer out of court rather than taking them to task for his unfair dismissal. Woodford was let go after blowing the whistle on Olympus' financial scandal, but now it seems he will have the last laugh as The New York Times has finally put a figure to the settlement: $15.4 Million.
We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what if your company logo showed up in a picture of an alleged killer? Chances are you wouldn't be too thrilled with any of the 1000 words that picture was generating.
A month ago, quite a bit of controversy was stirred up when Amateur Photographer pointed out some stringent and seemingly unenforceable restrictions included in the London 2012 Ticker Holder Agreement. Initially it seemed that attendees might have been prevented from posting images to social networks (an assumption which was later refuted). But even though attendees will be allowed to post images to Facebook to their heart's content, amateurs and non-media who wanted to get some …
Just yesterday news broke that Michael Woodford -- the former Olympus CEO who blew the whistle on the now-infamous scandal and was subsequently fired -- would be suing his former employer over unfair dismissal for a whopping $60 million dollars. And today, in an altogether not unexpected turn of events, Olympus is said to be preparing to settle out of court for a smaller (yet still massive) amount of money -- "only" $15.5 million.
After discovering that multiple websites had used one of his photos without permission, photographer Jay Lee began sending out DMCA takedown notifications to web hosts in an attempt to protect his copyright. One of the websites was owned by a woman named Candice Schwager, who had 14 of her sites temporarily taken offline as a result of the takedown request. Turns out Schwager is involved in both helping represent special needs children and helping a man named Louis Guthrie get elected as County …
It's strange to think that cartography laws could somehow affect the functionality of your camera overseas, but a recent article on Ogle Earth points out that just such a thing has been going on with GPS-enabled cameras as far back as 2010. The whole "investigation" into the matter began with the release of the Panasonic TS4 earlier this year. For some reason the press release cautioned that the GPS in the camera "may not work in China or in the border regions of countries neighboring China." …
Kodak has been selling off its assets left and right as it tries to dig itself out of its financial hole. Most recently, it "successfully" sold its Gallery business to Shutterfly. But Kodak's most prized possession, and the sale it was hoping to make up the most ground with, is its massive collection of patents split into two portfolios.
Earlier today Amateur Photographer reported that the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) in Glasgow, Scotland is set to impose a series of bylaws for the cities transport, including a ban in section 12.1 which would prohibit riders from "take[ing] photographs, or make[ing] video, audio or visual recordings on any part of the subway." In fact, the only way around the ban would be to get express written permission from the SPT and show it to any officer that may request to see it.
Earlier we reported on two separate cases where video evidence of police shot by random citizens wound up being crucial in the exoneration of photographers arrested while doing their job. Well, appropriately enough, the US Department of Justice just recently came out in defense of the right to record police while they are on duty.
Two photographers from opposite ends of the country found themselves in similar situations over the past few weeks. Although the charges leveled against each were different, both photogs were ultimately exonerated after video evidence was presented on their behalf. Amateur photographer Joshua Garland from Seattle and photojournalist Alexander Arbuckle from New York were charged with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct, respectively. After YouTube and Ustream videos by others in the area …
How do you go about demanding payment from a local newspaper if you discover that they've infringed upon your copyright? Blogger Duane Lester of All American Blogger recently found an article of his reprinted nearly verbatim, typos and all, by the Oregon Times Observer in Oregon, Missouri. He then decided to pay a visit to the newspapers offices with a letter in hand to demand payment from the editor face to face. The video above shows how the confrontation unfolded.
Back in 2006, a pornography publishing company named Perfect 10 attempted to sue Google over copyright infringement, claiming that the thumbnails displayed on Google's image search did not fall under "fair use." Ultimately, the Supreme Court wouldn't even hear the case, allowing the ruling that thumbnails are fair use to stand and handing Perfect 10 yet another loss (they've sustained many in this area).
