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Plant retailer awarded $900K by federal jury in copyright case over stolen photos

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An Oregon based plant retailer has been awarded $900,000 in actual damages by federal jury over a copyright claim. Or they’ve been awarded $300,000 in statutory damages. It’s recipient’s choice. They can have one, but not both. I would imagine they’ll probably go for the $900K. The case revolves around the unauthorised use of 24 images created by Under a Foot Plant Co. president, Frances White.

Under a Foot Plant Co., owns a product line of plants called “Stepables“. These are a range of plants that can be walked upon. A series of images were created to promote these products. In 2014 they sued Maryland based Exterior Design over taking and using these images to promote their own line, “Treadwell Plants” on the web, posters and in brochures.

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I Just Made $2500 From A Single Copyright Infringement – And You Can Too

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There’s nothing better than receiving an email with a $2500 paycheck attached to it out of the blue.

That was my cut of a settlement that Pixsy was able to secure on my behalf from a single unauthorized use of one of my photos.

If you’ve ever had one of your photos published without a license (and who hasn’t), I am going to try to explain why and how you can get paid (in cash not credit) for the unauthorized use of your creative work.

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Best Practices To Protect Your Photography Copyright and Pursue Infringement

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I have been using Pixsy for a while now to keep track of copyright infringement of my photography and where possible, pursue payments.

Having worked through the system a few times now, I have identified a number of simple steps that photographers can take to protect their copyright and pursue infringement.

You may or may not care about copyright infringement right now, but there is really no reason not to protect yourself just in case.

Continue reading for my suggested best practices to protect your photography copyright and pursue infringement.

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Argentina Talks Extending The Lifespan On Copyrights By Average Of 120 Years; Artist Advocacy Groups Say No Way

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Argentinian lawmakers are reviewing a possible new law which would extend the copyright on photographs and films from the current 20 years after date of publication, to a greatly extended 70 years after the photographer’s death. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, that averages to be an extension of about 120 years.

While that may sound like fairly good thing at first, it has a lot people in an uproar. As it stands, were the bill to go into effect, it would work retroactively–meaning thousands of photos that are currently in the public domain, would suddenly become copyrighted again. This, of course, would result in an overwhelming amount of unintentional infringements and thousands of images being pulled from the internet. [Read More…]

Social Media Networks Don’t Give a Flying Fudge-Nugget About Your Copyright!

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I have been working on ways to automate some of my social media and blogging activity over the last little while and one of the super useful tools I’ve been using is IFTTT (If This Then That).

However, browsing the recipes on IFTTT I have realized how redonkulously easy it is to fully automate the theft of photography from social media.

It’s so easy its crazy – which leads me to my second thought:

How can it possibly be this easy to automate the theft of copyrighted creative content from social media without the permission or knowledge of the content’s owners!?

Or, in other words – why don’t social media networks give a flying fudge-nugget about copyright???

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So You Got An Invoice From My Lawyer Asking To Pay Up For The Photo You Stole…

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Dear Asshole Friend,

You’re probably wondering why I haven’t responded back to your emails asking me to call off my lawyers. You are, after all, just a well-intentioned corporation doing your best to help out me–the little guy, the starving artist.

I understand that photo licensing can get pretty expensive and may not fall within everyone’s budget. Certainly, with your company selling only $10,000,000 in product a year, how could you afford to pay the $275 my agency and I ask for to use one of my images. And you needed four of them! Gasp! I see why you thought it would be better just to take them from my website and use them without asking. The point of you even putting my photos up on your for-profit commerce site was “only to promote” me anyways, surely you wouldn’t be making any money off my work. Nah, no way. All those product links and advertisements to your own inventory were totally just on there for funsies. Your numbers speak for themselves, no one’s buying that stuff…[Read More…]

New EU Proposal Could Make It Impossible To Take Photos In Public

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Will public photography soon be impossible in Europe?  A new proposal being submitted in the European Union parliament may mean almost that.

“Freedom of Panorama” is a a term we don’t hear frequently, but its importance is vital to the photography community.  In short, Freedom of Panorama is a part of copyright law that gives individuals the freedom to create works of art (whether they be paintings, family snapshots, professional images, videos, etc.) in public.  The specifics vary from country to country, but, in many places around the world, this is allowed for both personal and commercial use.

However, opponents within the EU want to pass legislation removing this freedom in all European countries.  This would mean that, when taking any photograph or creating a video in public, you must obtain the permission of the copyright holder for any copyrighted work that may appear in it, including buildings, landmarks, and works of art.

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A Guide to Plagiarism and Theft in Photography

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In 2013 my most popular article (by some distance) was the story of how my most successful image was plagiarised in a rather unusual way; a photographer had recreated the image from scratch. It seemed to me to be a bit of a grey area and I was unsure where I stood legally. The photographer hadn’t stolen my image and wasn’t selling his recreation, but he had stolen my idea and that is intellectual property theft. The problem was resolved rather quickly and painlessly in the end but in that regard, I was one of the lucky ones. It did, however, prompt me to write a comprehensive guide on the subject after I could only find very segmented information spread over several websites. I wanted the relevant information all in one place in an ordered fashion and as that wasn’t possible, I decided to create it myself.

This guide is in 3 major parts; prevention, detection and reaction. Firstly, how to prevent or deter plagiarism or theft of your images. Secondly, how to detect and identify any images or ideas that have been stolen – the internet is vast and finding your images where you hadn’t put them is a daunting task. Finally, the various ways in which you can react if you find one or more of your images or ideas have been stolen.

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Photographer Sues EliteDaily Over Unauthorised Use Of Photos

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EliteDaily, one of the top 1000 most visited websites in the world, is being sued by photographer Peter Menzel. On April 15, 2014, the viral content website ran an article titled, “See The Incredible Differences In The Daily Food Intake Of People Around The World (Photos)”. The article was centered around Peter Menzel and his wife Faith D’Aluisio. The pair of photographers had previously published a book of their work titled: What I Eat: Around the world in 80 Diets. EliteDaily allegedly took over two dozen photos from the project and used them in their article without permission. In at least one instance, going so far as to remove a copyright notice from the one of the images.[Read More…]

Vivian Maier’s Portfolio Faces Uncertain Future As Her Estate Enters Complicated Legal Battle

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A state public administrator’s office in Chicago, Illinois has issued letters to several individuals in possession of Vivian Maier photographs and negatives, informing them of possible lawsuits they could be facing over any money they earned from selling Maier’s work. Among the recipients of the letter were several galleries and John Maloof, an individual who owns a lionshare of original Maier works with a collection of negatives in the tens of thousands, which he bought for $400.

When Maloof acquired the negatives in 2007, he hired a genealogist to help track down any heirs of the mysterious photographer. He was able to locate Sylvain Jaussaud, whom was considered by experts to be Maeir’s closest living heir as a first cousin once removed. Maloof and Jaussaud reached an undisclosed agreement in which Maloof would assume the rights to the negatives. Maloof then filed an application to register his copyright, which is currently still pending one year after being filed.[Read More…]

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