Law

The ongoing government shutdown is emboldening rule-breakers and thrill-seekers to get away with illegally flying drones, among other restricted activities.

A week after Fourth of July celebrations, PetaPixel reported that multiple California police departments had used drones to surveil and spot people illegally shooting off fireworks. Promised fines have been rolling out since, including a new $300,000 one levied against an Orange County homeowner who claims they were not even home on July 4.

Photographer Chris Levine, who captured an iconic holographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, is being sued by artist Rob Munday who claims that he is the co-creator of the works Equanimity and Lightness of Being.

As part of its expanding crackdown on immigration, the United States government says it will soon begin photographing every non-citizen, including all legal ones with green cards and visas, as they enter and leave the U.S. The government claims that improved facial recognition and more photos will prevent immigration violations and catch criminals.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's engagement photos broke Instagram records in August and set into motion new photography trends. A photographer alleges that, capitalizing on the buzz, Realtor.com stole her photos of Kelce's mansion, where he proposed to Swift.

The Camera Store (TCS), one of the largest and most popular photography retailers in Western Canada, experienced another devastating break-in early this morning, October 23.

An Australian photographer has settled his lawsuit against a gallery accused of charging customers to recreate his photographs as paintings.

As photographers, we often obsess over our gear. We meticulously research the latest mirrorless bodies, spend hours comparing lens charts, and invest thousands in lighting, tripods, and editing software. Our camera bags are often brimming with highly valuable assets, assets we diligently protect with insurance, cases, and careful handling.

DJI published a promotional video earlier this month that featured footage captured in heavily restricted airspace, including in United States National Parks and on Navajo tribal lands where drones are banned. The video quickly caused controversy, leading DJI to remove it.

A federal judge has dismissed two claims made by a relative of photographer Mike Disfarmer against the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, which holds Disfarmer's negatives.

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has warned that the proposed $3.7 billion merger between Getty Images and Shutterstock could significantly reduce competition in the editorial and stock photography markets.

Late last month, DJI lost its lawsuit against the Pentagon, meaning that the Chinese technology company would remain designated a "Chinese Military Company" in the United States. DJI has officially appealed the decision.

A ban on photographing and filming people without their permission appears set to be signed into law in Uzbekistan after the country’s parliament voted in favor of the legislation on October 7.

New York City has filed a major lawsuit against Meta, Google, Snapchat, and TikTok, accusing them of contributing to what officials describe as a “youth mental health crisis.”

A U.S. federal judge has temporarily barred Homeland Security agents from using riot control weapons on journalists in the Chicago area after a photographer was struck with pepper balls.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has called on OpenAI to address what it describes as widespread copyright infringement stemming from the company’s new video generation model, Sora 2.

A federal court has ruled that the city government of Louisville, Kentucky, violated a wedding photographer’s rights by trying to make her provide services for same-sex weddings.

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has expressed strong concerns about how a sweeping drone ban in Chicago, the largest drone flight restrictions ever imposed in the United States, may violate First Amendment rights.

Urban explorer photographer Isaac Wright, otherwise known as "Drift", has had his charges dropped after being arrested at his own exhibition, where the NYPD used one of his photos as evidence that he had climbed the Empire State Building.

An acclaimed wildlife photographer has pleaded guilty to trespassing on a private island to photograph critically endangered orange-bellied parrots.

The man photographed as a baby on Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover has lost his latest lawsuit against the band for distributing child sexual abuse imagery.

The University of San Francisco has issued a safety warning following reports of a man using Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses to record women for social media.

A photographer successfully brought legal action against a woman who assaulted him after demanding that he delete photos showing a child participating at a public event.

A trial is underway over the death of a sports photographer who was killed by a runaway bike while covering a motorcycle racing competition.

Facebook and Instagram users in the U.K. will be able to pay a subscription of up to $5.36 (£3.99) per month to use the platforms without ads.

A United States judge rejected DJI's request to be removed from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) list of Chinese military and military-associated companies. This means, pending an appeal, the U.S. government can continue to call DJI a Chinese Military Company, a ruling that comes with significant risks to DJI's business operations.

A museum director has been sentenced to 10 years in a Russian prison over a poster featuring a composite photograph of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler merged into one face.

A judge approved a $1.5 billion settlement between Anthropic and a group of U.S. authors who alleged that the company stole their work to train its AI models in a high-profile class-action lawsuit.

Controversial photographer Sally Mann has warned of “a new era of culture wars” and predicted further attacks on the arts.

A trial will finally decide the long-contested fate of Billy Name's estate, who was Andy Warhol's photographer, including the rights to his significant archive of images.

The civilian pilot who flew his drone into a firefighting aircraft operating above the Los Angeles wildfires has been sentenced to two weeks in prison and ordered to pay $156,000 in fines.

Meta is under scrutiny after the company used parents' photos of schoolgirls as young as 13 to promote its Threads platform to adult men.

Burning Man has been sued by two popular YouTube filmmakers who allege that event organizers blocked them from filming the festival’s cleanup operations in the Nevada desert.

Italy has enacted the European Union’s first national law specifically regulating artificial intelligence, setting penalties and safeguards intended to curb misuse while encouraging innovation.

A man has filed a $1 million lawsuit against Bad Bunny for featuring his home in a short film -- a move that has turned the property into a photo destination for tourists and fans.

At least 52 couples fear they may never see their wedding photos after the FBI seized a popular videographer’s hard drives months ago.

An Airbnb guest says he was fined $10,000 for taking a selfie inside the viral Invisible House in Joshua Tree, California.

Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros Discovery have jointly filed a lawsuit against popular Chinese video generator Hailuo AI, over what they claim is “wilful and brazen” copyright infringement.

Six professional models have filed a lawsuit against a nightclub for using and altering their photos in ads without permission or compensation.

President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the removal of photographs related to slavery from national parks in the U.S.

The United States and China have reportedly agreed on the framework of a deal to bring TikTok under majority U.S. ownership.

A UK press photographer has spoken out after a conviction against him for assaulting a police officer was overturned just half an hour before his appeal was due to be heard.

Warner Bros. Discovery has launched a lawsuit against the AI image generator Midjourney, accusing the latter of copyright infringement.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld a lower court's ruling that the law President Donald Trump has been using to enact his widespread tariff policy does not actually grant him that power, setting up a final appeal to the Supreme Court.

A 6-foot-2-inch-tall man was wrongfully arrested after New York Police's facial recognition technology linked him to a suspect who was significantly shorter and lighter than he was.

An influencer is reportedly facing three years in prison for posting a 12-second video of herself performing acrobatics around the Turkish national flag.

A painting stolen by the Nazis during World War II has been spotted in the background of a real estate photo, more than 80 years after it was seized by them.

A couple received a $2,000 refund after convincing their bank that they couldn't trust their wedding photographer would show up on their big day.

A pair of travel influencers have expressed their shock after they were sent a lengthy list detailing almost "20 fineable offences" over photos they had posted on Instagram months earlier.