DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Getty responds to $1 Billion lawsuit: If you put your photos in public domain, don’t come whining to us

Sep 11, 2016 by Udi Tirosh 26 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

04151v-670x369

OK, those are not the exact words of Getty, but this is what their response feels like. As you may recall we reported this 1 Billion dollars lawsuit back in July. If you want the background, Getty sent an infringement notice to one Carol M. Highsmith. Here is the funny thing. Carol M. Highsmith was the photographer who took the photo in the first place.

In response, Carol sued Getty for 1 billion dollars for “gross misuse” of 18,755 of her photographs, she claims that Getty “falsely and fraudulently holding themselves out as the exclusive copyright owner” (The amount comes from $25K per image in statutory damages times three).

Now it’s Getty’s time to respond (and they did file a response on September 6th) and here is what they are saying:

Basically, they are telling the court that the lawsuit should be dismissed. Why you ask? Well Getty claims that they did nothing illegal.

Getty is claiming that the photos are in the public domain (as you recall, Carol donated her images to the Library of Congress), and as such, Getty has the right to use them. In fact, Carol can not invoke Copyright claims as she those were given by her to the library of congress.

But Getty goes on saying that the fact that a work is under “public domain” still allows it to be sold and showing some examples of other “public domain” IP being sold: “Public domain works are routinely commercialized – e.g., publishers charge money for their copies of Dickens novels and Shakespeare plays, etc”

Now, its is probably for that reason that Carol did not sue for copyright infringement, instead she is suing under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) which states that it is illegal to remove, modify or falsify copyright management information. And Getty are saying they did not falsify anything. But! they are also saying that the DMCA provisions make it illegal to falsify copyright information “with intent to induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal infringement”—or with the knowledge that infringement would result. But public domain images are not subject to copyright and therefore cannot be infringed. So actually, the entire basis of the claim is dropped.

Getty also asked to dismiss a few other claims with various legalities, but this is their main argument.

What do you think? Is getty right in this case or is Carol?

[via pdnpulse]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Getty asks photographer to pay for her own photo, photographer responds with $1 billion lawsuit Getty Images sued again, accused of profiting from public domain images New York Public Library releases over 187K digitized works into the Public Domain Getty faces second mass Copyright lawsuit alleging infringement of over 47,000 photos

Filed Under: news Tagged With: Billion Dollars, Carol M. Highsmith, copyright, copyright infringement, DMCA, getty images

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.net

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

« Facebook censored, then uncensored, famous photo of ‘Napalm Girl’
Primoplan 58 f1.9 should be a razor sharp lens wrapped in fabulous bokeh »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy