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Russian movie accused of stealing “Human Christmas Tree” photo idea for its marketing poster

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We see almost daily reports of photographers having their work stolen and reproduced elsewhere without permission and against their wishes. But it’s not often that we see an entire concept allegedly ripped off quite so blatantly. I have to say allegedly, but to anybody with eyes and a brain, it seems like a foregone conclusion.

The original photo in question was shot by Norwegian photographer Stig Håvard Dirdal in 2015. It’s reported to have been stolen and reposted around the web so often that Dirdal ultimately registered it with the US Copyright office in 2018 to be able to do more about further infractions. But now, another photographer’s interpretation of it appears to be the main marketing image for Russian movie “Yolki 8”.

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Capcom sued by photographer for $12 million for using her photos in over 200 infringements

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There’s a big myth out there that if you “alter” a portion of an image, the image is longer subject to copyright laws. Crop it down, scale it, change its colour, modify a few pixels here and there and you can claim “transformative” under Fair Use… Right? Wrong, as games creator Capcom is finding out after they were hit with a $12,000,000 lawsuit.

Polygon reports that the suit was filed by designer Judy A. Juracek who alleges that Capcom has used photos from her copyrighted book, Surfaces, in a number of games, including Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry and other games. Surfaces is a collection of photographs of more than 1,200 textures, designed as a “visual research” reference for artists.

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“American Chopper” star ordered to pay over $258,000 for using photographer’s work without permission

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Paul Teutul Sr., the star of the famous reality TV show “American Chopper,” has been sued by a photographer whose photo he used without permission. The judge has sided with the photographer, and the court has ordered Teutul to pay $258,484.45 for copyright infringement.

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The owner of famous Grumpy Cat awarded over $700,000 in a copyright infringement lawsuit

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I guess we all know the viral Grumpy Cat, the spirit animal of many of us (especially on Monday mornings). In 2015, a beverage company used Grumpy Cat’s name and image without a license, and the kitty’s owner Tabatha Bundesen decided to file a lawsuit. On Monday, the court ruled in her favor and she was awarded $710,001 in damages.

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How do you deal with copyright infringement when it’s for “a good cause”?

In about one week will mark the anniversary of the most traumatic and violent piece of history in France in the last decades. The 13th of november 2015, several coordinated terrorist attacks took place in Paris, less than a year after the attacks against the newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Still today, Paris feels different. Much like the 9/11 attacks, Paris now has this air of danger, still lingering, and the attacks are clearly in the heads of every Parisian.

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Getty files Copyright suit over stolen photo resale scheme on Facebook

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Getty Images has filed a copyright infringement suit against Ohio man, Walter A. Kowalczuk for allegedly downloading as many as 3,400 high resolution images from Getty’s servers without permission which he then resold through a private group on Facebook.

According to PDN, Getty’s claim against Kowalczuk, filed June 8th in US District Court in Cleveland, states that he and other members of the group allegedly bought and sold images using codewords for the sources of those images, such as “Spaghetti” for Getty and “Apples” for Associated Press.

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Instagram Hub Feature Photo = Copyright Grab? #Instascam

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I recently decided to finally get on the Instagram bandwagon (shameless plug: follow me @jpdanko) and I came across what apparently is the widespread practice of “hub” users taking other user’s images and reposting them to their own feed as a “feature” photo (please forgive my wide eyed innocence…).

At a glance, this practice essentially seems to be a barefaced copyright grab – even if it does technically comply with Instagram’s Community Guidelines.

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Bing Takes Small Step To Protect Photographers From Copyright Infringement; Improve Image Search

It appears internet search engine Bing and Getty Images have come a long way since Getty filed a lawsuit against Bing last year, accusing Bing of a “massive infringement”. Now, seven months later, the two have announced a partnership which both companies hope will provide Bing users with “image rich” content and internet browsing. In a press release relating to the partnership, Getty Images Senior VP of Business Development Craig Peters explained:

“With our new partnership, Microsoft will use Getty Images’ latest API innovations and our award-winning visual content to take search experiences to a new level. Our technology teams will work together to create beautiful, engaging applications and services for Microsoft users with licensed content and attribution for photographers and other content creators.”

Stemming from the partnership, Bing has also announced several improvements in the search engine’s image search capabilities. These improvements are aimed at raising awareness to copyright and Creative Common laws, with the hopes they will reduce infringement cases.[Read More…]

What Photographers Need To Know About Nike Being Sued For Stealing The Air Jordan Logo

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If you’ve been following the sports, economic or photography news, you’ve probably heard about the photographer suing Nike for violating the copyright of one of his Michael Jordan images, while creating the famous shoes and athletic clothing brand.

Obviously the lawsuit made headlines due to it involving one of the most powerful sports brands and the greatest player to have held a basketball. I mean, such violations occur on a daily basis. So strip the story of the big names, and aren’t we left with just another boring copyright case? Absolutely not, and that’s what I believe most photographers have been missing.

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

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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