BOOM! Someone finally sticks it to Getty

Browncoat

Senior Member
A picture is worth a thousand words. Or in this case, about 1.2 million dollars.

Photographer wins $1.2 million from companies that took pictures off Twitter | Reuters

"We believe that this is the first time that these defendants or any other major digital licensor of photography have been found liable for willful violations of the Copyright Act," Baio said in an email.

Lawyers for AFP and Getty did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
Just in case you don't feel like reading the whole thing, here's the summary:

The $1.2 million was the maximum statutory penalty available under the Copyright Act, Baio said. AFP had asked for the award to be set at $120,000.

During the trial, Marcia Paul, a lawyer for Getty, said Morel was asking the jury "to make him the best paid news photographer on the planet."

Joshua Kaufman, a lawyer for AFP, blamed the infringement on an innocent mistake and said the Twitter user who posted Morel's photos without attribution bore responsibility for the error. The AFP editor, Kaufman said, believed the pictures were posted for public distribution.

AFP filed the lawsuit in 2010 against Morel, seeking a declaration that it had not infringed on his copyrights, after Morel accused it of improper use. Morel then filed his own counterclaims.

AFP had initially argued that Twitter's terms of service permitted the use of the photos. But Nathan found in January that the company's policies allowed posting and "retweeting" of images but did not grant the right to use them commercially.

Point 1: Getty Images basically says that photography isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Point 2: AFP basically says they thought that photos posted to Twitter were free for the taking. This is a very big victory for working photographers. Huge.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
Getty has been edging photographers out of the picture (pun intended) for years: building connections w/ the media while cutting rates and grabbing rights from photographers. They're the worst kind of middle man, lining their own pockets while sticking it to the very people who supply them. Without contributors, Getty is nothing. Yet, it's a status symbol to be a Getty photographer, go figure.

​It's about time they ate some crow.
 

Nero

Senior Member
Getty has been edging photographers out of the picture (pun intended) for years: building connections w/ the media while cutting rates and grabbing rights from photographers. They're the worst kind of middle man, lining their own pockets while sticking it to the very people who supply them. Without contributors, Getty is nothing. Yet, it's a status symbol to be a Getty photographer, go figure.

​It's about time they ate some crow.
Well hopefully this is only the beginning.
 
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