He Shot an Iconic Photo—and Lost the Copyright; FStoppers, October 31, 2026

Alex Cooke, FStoppers ; He Shot an Iconic Photo—and Lost the Copyright

"Lester LaRue shot 44 frames on the morning of April 19, 1995, with his employer's camera, his employer's film, and his employer's car to get him there. One of those frames ran on the cover of Newsweek's May 1 issue. A federal court later ruled the copyrights had never been his...

What This Means for the Camera in Your Bag

If you draw a paycheck and you take pictures, this is the case to read. The doctrine does not weigh how good the photograph is, or whether your employer could ever have imagined it, and it does not require the picture to depict the business. The test comes out of agency law and asks three things: whether the work was the kind you were employed to perform, whether it happened substantially within the time and space your job authorized, and whether you were acting at least partly to serve your employer. Whose camera you were holding is evidence going to those questions, not a fourth question. LaRue lost because every one of the three pointed the same way, and staff shooters, in-house content producers, safety officers, and real estate agents lose the same way every year without a Newsweek cover to show for it.

Section 201(b) leaves one lever, the written instrument. Ownership between an employee and an employer can be reallocated, but only in a signed writing, and the practical time to get one is before anything happens in front of the lens. The Copyright Office's own guidance for photographers is blunt about the same point, and if you are building a business around images you expect to license later, the contract side deserves as much attention as the business of commercial photography itself. Freelancers get the better end of this: under Section 101, a commissioned photograph is a work made for hire only in narrow enumerated categories, and only with a signed agreement.

The publicity half of the case cuts the other direction, and it travels badly. Oklahoma tied its statute to what the naked eye can determine from the photograph alone, so an obscured face defeated the claim no matter what the caption said. Other states draw the line differently, and identifiability standards vary enough that a shot that is safe in one jurisdiction is exposure in another."

Dolly Parton Refused a Rock Legend in 1974: ‘I Had to Keep That Copyright in My Pocket’; Parade, August 25, 2026

Melina Gray, Parade; Dolly Parton Refused a Rock Legend in 1974: ‘I Had to Keep That Copyright in My Pocket’

"Elvis Presley was going to record “I Will Always Love You,” and Dolly Parton had already said yes. Then the phone rang the night before, and it was Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager, with a condition nobody had mentioned. Elvis did not record anything unless Parker’s side took half the publishing.

Parton, who died Tuesday at 80, had written the song in 1973 as a goodbye to her longtime duet partner Porter Wagoner, on the same day she wrote “Jolene.” It was one of roughly 3,000 songs she wrote, and a No. 1 country hit under her own name. Handing over half of it meant handing over what she planned to leave her family. She turned Presley down in 1974 and, by her own account, cried all night. “I had to keep that copyright in my pocket,” she later said."

Law’s Elizabeth Rosenblatt explains copyright ownership in relation to Trump’s mugshot; Case Western Reserve University, The Daily, September 1, 2023

Case Western Reserve University, The Daily ; Law’s Elizabeth Rosenblatt explains copyright ownership in relation to Trump’s mugshot

"Can you legally use Trump’s mugshot on merchandise?

Spectrum News: Elizabeth Rosenblatt, the Oliver C. Schroeder Jr. Distinguished Research Scholar and associate director of the Spangenberg Center for Law, Technology and the Arts at the School of Law, said that copyright ownership of mugshots applies in most jurisdictions. Questions arose following the recent release of former President Donald Trump’s mugshot for his arrest for meddling in the 2020 election. “Whether the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department would decide to enforce its copyright is entirely up to them,” Rosenblatt said."

Do brands own the copyright on AI-generated ads?; The Drum, January 11, 2023

 Chris Sutcliffe, The Drum; Do brands own the copyright on AI-generated ads?

"Where copyright issues come into play is when there is no demonstrable human interaction – a tricky gray area given that a human is required to at least provide the prompts for the AI to begin with."

Who Owns the Copyright in A Tattoo?; Lexology, October 17, 2022

McKee Voorhees & Sease PLC - Brandon W. Clark, Lexology; Who Owns the Copyright in A Tattoo?

"In this, the first ever case of its kind to reach a jury, the jury found in favor of Alexander. However, the decision was something of a hollow victory for Alexander as the jury only awarded damages of $3,750. This case illustrates many of the issues with putting a copyright case in front of a jury as the court removed many of Take Two’s potential defenses from the jury’s consideration including de minimus use, an implied license, and waiver.

While the issues are novel and some of the case specific facts are fascinating, the outcome of the case could have a significant impact on copyrights and licensing for video games, television, motion pictures, and photographs. It is too early to tell what specific impact the result could have, and the minimal damages award will likely prevent an onslaught of similar cases, but the result does indicate a potential increase in risk when using someone’s name, image, and likeness, and will likely change the way these licenses are drafted in the future.

From a practical perspective, since copyright rights can only be transferred via a signed writing, the one sure way to avoid this risk is to ensure that tattoo artists sign a copyright assignment at the time the work is completed."

Monkey selfie photographer says he's broke: 'I'm thinking of dog walking'; Guardian, July 12, 2017

Julia Carrie Wong, Guardian; Monkey selfie photographer says he's broke: 'I'm thinking of dog walking'

"The one consolation for Slater is that he believes that his photograph has helped to save the crested black macaque from extinction.

“These animals were on the way out and because of one photograph, it’s hopefully going to create enough ecotourism to make the locals realize that there’s a good reason to keep these monkeys alive,” Slater said. “The picture hopefully contributed to saving the species. That was the original intention all along.”"

Can A Monkey Hold A Copyright?; NPR, Morning Edition, July 13, 2017

NPR, Morning Edition; Can A Monkey Hold A Copyright?

"A court is deciding if the rights for photos belong to a monkey that took selfie photos. A photographer published the photos in a book, but an animal rights group sued for copyright infringement."

Winston Churchill's views on aliens revealed in lost essay; BBC News, February 15, 2017

Paul Rincon, BBC News; 

Winston Churchill's views on aliens revealed in lost essay

"Dr Livio told BBC News that there were no firm plans to publish the article because of issues surrounding the copyright. However, he said the Churchill Museum was working to resolve these so that the historically important essay can eventually see the light of day."

Who Owns Helen Gurley Brown’s Legacy?; New York Times, 8/22/15

Katherine Rosman, New York Times; Who Owns Helen Gurley Brown’s Legacy? :

"The person who has been impeding its arrival on the market is Ms. Burton, 56, the general counsel for and a senior vice president of the Hearst Corporation and the co-executor of Ms. Brown’s will...

Though the papers are housed by Smith College, their copyright is controlled by Ms. Burton. “She was quite clear that for commercial exploitation, she wanted us to oversee it,” Ms. Burton said. (Ms. Brown did sanction a 2008 biography, “Bad Girls Go Everywhere,” by the Bowdoin professor Jennifer Scanlon, published by Oxford University Press.) Ms. Burton delegated the vetting of project proposals and archive permissions to another longtime friend of Ms. Brown’s: Kim St. Clair Bodden, the senior vice president and editorial director of Hearst Magazines International, of which Cosmo is the most prolific global asset. She is also an officer of the Pussycat (a third is Roger P. Paschke, the chief investment officer of Hearst; none takes an administrative fee)...

When the time comes, Ms. Burton said she potentially would negotiate a usage fee for a large-scale project, with the money benefiting the Pussycat Foundation.

However, because the officers of the foundation and trustees of the copyright all are Hearst executives, “there is a technical conflict,” said Mr. Zabel, the estate lawyer. “They might censor or approve an incomplete version of her life, which could result in more protection of the Cosmo brand but could deprive charitable beneficiaries of benefits.” (Legal-speak for a principle championed by Ms. Brown: sex sells.)"