It Sure Looks Like Trump Watches Are Breaking Copyright Law; Wired, October 18, 2024

Matt Giles, Wired; It Sure Looks Like Trump Watches Are Breaking Copyright Law

"According to the Associated Press, though, TheBestWatchesonEarth LLC advertised a product it can’t deliver, as that image is owned by the 178-year-old news agency. This week, the AP told WIRED it is pursuing a cease and desist against the LLC, which is registered in Sheridan, Wyoming. (The company did not reply to a request for comment about the cease and desist letter.)

Evan Vucci, the AP’s Pulitzer Prize–winning chief photographer, took that photograph, and while he told WIRED he does not own the rights to that image, the AP confirmed earlier this month in an email to WIRED that it is filing the written notice. “AP is proud of Evan Vucci’s photo and recognizes its impact,” wrote AP spokesperson Nicole Meir. “We reserve our rights to this powerful image, as we do with all AP journalism, and continue to license it for editorial use only.”"

Richard Prince to Pay Photographers Who Sued Over Copyright; The New York Times, January 26, 2024

 Matt Stevens, The New York Times; Richard Prince to Pay Photographers Who Sued Over Copyright

"The artist Richard Prince agreed to pay at least $650,000 to two photographers whose images he had incorporated in his own work, ending a long-running copyright dispute that had been closely monitored by the art world...

Brian Sexton, a lawyer for Prince, said the artist wanted to protect free expression and have copyright law catch up to changing technology...

Marriott said the judgments showed that copyright law still provided meaningful protection to creators and that the internet was not a copying free-for-all.

“There is not a fair use exception to copyright law that applies to the famous and another that applies to everyone else,” he said."

Photographer Sues Church Over Copyright Infringement; Fstoppers, December 28, 2023

 Alex Cooke, Fstoppers; Photographer Sues Church Over Copyright Infringement

"A photographer is taking legal action against a small church in South Carolina for allegedly using his photograph without consent.

Erin Paul Donovan, a photographer from New Hampshire, has initiated a federal lawsuit against Wightman United Methodist Church in Prosperity, South Carolina. Donovan claims that his photograph, depicting New Hampshire’s White Mountains, was used on the church's website without his permission, specifically as a thumbnail for a sermon video dated June 2021...

The suit further alleges that the church not only used the image without authorization but also removed Donovan's copyright notice, name, and watermark from the photograph as it originally appeared on his website."

Photographer Sues Church Over Copyright Infringement; Fstoppers, December 28, 2023

Alex Cooke, Fstoppers; Photographer Sues Church Over Copyright Infringement

"A photographer is taking legal action against a small church in South Carolina for allegedly using his photograph without consent.

Erin Paul Donovan, a photographer from New Hampshire, has initiated a federal lawsuit against Wightman United Methodist Church in Prosperity, South Carolina. Donovan claims that his photograph, depicting New Hampshire’s White Mountains, was used on the church's website without his permission, specifically as a thumbnail for a sermon video dated June 2021...

The suit further alleges that the church not only used the image without authorization but also removed Donovan's copyright notice, name, and watermark from the photograph as it originally appeared on his website."

Victory! Embedded Links to Photos on Instagram Don’t Infringe Photographers’ Copyrights, Court Rules; EFF, July 20, 2023

KAREN GULLO , EFF; Victory! Embedded Links to Photos on Instagram Don’t Infringe Photographers’ Copyrights, Court Rules

"The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling published this week, made clear that linking does not constitute infringement, and kept in place an important test to determine under what circumstances entities can be held liable for displaying copyrighted content online."

Instagram dodges photographers' copyright claims on appeal – but case likely continues; Reuters, July 18, 2023

 Alison Frankel, Reuters; Instagram dodges photographers' copyright claims on appeal – but case likely continues

"A class of photographers whose Instagram photos were embedded by other websites failed on Monday to convince a three-judge panel at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside controversial precedent in order to hold Instagram liable for copyright infringement.

But the panel also said that the photographers had raised “serious and well argued” policy concerns about copyright holders’ ability to control and profit from their work. If lead plaintiffs Alexis Hunley and Matthew Scott Brauer want to challenge the precedent that controlled the outcome of this case, the panel said, they should petition the 9th Circuit for an en banc rehearing."

Copyright Office Refuses to ‘Register Works Entirely Generated by AI’; Peta Pixel, June 28, 2023

 MATT GROWCOOT, PetaPixel; Copyright Office Refuses to ‘Register Works Entirely Generated by AI’

"The United States Copyright Office (USCO) has doubled down on its stance regarding artificial intelligence (AI), stating unequivocally that it will not register works generated entirely by AI.

In a webinar today, the Copyright Office states clearly that it views AI-generated content as “unclaimable material” ranking it alongside other unclaimable material such as previously published material, previously registered material, public domain material, and copyright material owned by another party. 

“The Office will refuse to register works entirely generated by AI,” says Robert Kasunic of the USCO. “Human authorship is a precondition to copyrightability.”

It means there is no change since March when the Office issued guidance where it likened text prompts to “instructions to a commissioned artist.” Essentially comparing them to a magazine editor hiring a photographer.

“Today’s webinar made a few things clear: 1) Appreciable Human Authorship is still the main requirement of copyrightability; 2) the USCO is expecting applicants to become much more comfortable with the procedure to disclaim materials,” says Thomas Maddrey of the American Media Society of Photographers (ASMP)."

Canvas is half-blank for artists after Warhol's Supreme Court copyright loss; The Denver Gazette, May 20, 2023

John Moore, The Denver Gazette ; Canvas is half-blank for artists after Warhol's Supreme Court copyright loss 

"That’s why, Sink believes, “I don’t think this is going to open any floodgates of artistic repression,” he said. “I feel like that this case falls into its own category because it was a work-for-hire situation.”

The Andy Warhol Foundation issued a statement saying it was important to note that the ruling “did not question the legality of Andy Warhol's creation of the Prince series."

The case is, to put it mildly, “a very complicated, double-edge sword for artists,” Sink said. But two things he’s sure of: 1. “It really is the Wild West out there now” when it comes to these quickly evolving issues. And 2. Warhol (who died in 1987) would be loooooving this."

Supreme Court Rules Andy Warhol’s Prince Art is Copyright Infringement; PetaPixel, May 18, 2023

 JARON SCHNEIDER, PetaPixel; Supreme Court Rules Andy Warhol’s Prince Art is Copyright Infringement

"Breaking Down the Ruling

Both the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and the ASMP are celebrating the ruling as a win for photographers. 

“The importance here cannot be overstated,” Thomas Maddrey, Chief Legal Officer and Head of National Content and Education at ASMP, says.

“The last case that the US Supreme Court fully opined on transformation and fair use was more than 25 years ago in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose. Here, the Court has added much needed guidance to when a use is truly ‘fair’ and when it is an impermissible usurpation of the rights of the copyright holder.”

Maddrey says that the case will likely have wide-ranging implications in not only the arts community, but also across all intellectual property areas. 

“Copyright practitioners have long sought clarification on what “transformation” actually means in the context of a fair use analysis.”

'The court has clearly identified the boundaries of what constitutes transformation in the context of fair use analysis.""

A Photographer Tried to Get His Photos Removed from an AI Dataset. He Got an Invoice Instead.; Vice, April 28, 2023

Chloe Xiang, Vice ; A Photographer Tried to Get His Photos Removed from an AI Dataset. He Got an Invoice Instead.

"The legality of using copyrighted material to train AI is still very contentious and there has not yet been a precedent case that can be used to determine the validity of either side of the case."

New Copyright Claims Board Rules in Favor of Photographer in First Case; PetaPixel, March 6, 2023

 MATT GROWCOOT, PetaPixel; New Copyright Claims Board Rules in Favor of Photographer in First Case

"In a judgment on February 28, 2023, the CCB ruled in favor of the plaintiff, David Oppenheimer, who sued a lawyer named Douglas Prutton for using one of his photographs on his website without permission. 

The CCB was set up in 2021 to help small copyright infringement claims of lower value giving photographers an alternative to hiring pricey copyright attorneys who generally balk at smaller monetary payouts of this kind."

Photographer Sues Gannett for $34 Million For Copyright Infringement; PetaPixel, December 15, 2022

PESALA BANDARA, PetaPixel ; Photographer Sues Gannett for $34 Million For Copyright Infringement

"Photographer Stephanie Campbell filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against major media company Gannett and more than 220 Gannett news outlets on Friday, reports Rochester Beacon.

In the lawsuit, Campbell alleges that hundreds of Gannett’s news titles published her photo of former NFL coach Katie Sowers without seeking the photographer’s permission...

[Kip Currier: The photographs, as described in the article, would be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as copyrightable subject matter, not with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which, as its eponymous name indicates, has jurisdiction over patents and trademarks.] Campbell registered the photographs of Sowers with the U.S. Patent and Trademarks office...

According to the Rochester Beacon, Campbell is seeking damages of up to $150,000 for each alleged infringement, a sum that, if each supposedly infringing publication used the Sowers photo only once, could see the photographer winning $34 million."

She Took the White House Photos. Trump Moved to Take the Profit.; The New York Times, March 31, 2022

Eric Lipton and Maggie Haberman , The New York Times; She Took the White House Photos. Trump Moved to Take the Profit.

"There is no legal prohibition on Mr. Trump assembling and publishing photographs that a White House staff member took during his tenure; under federal law, those photographs are considered in the public domain and not subject to copyright. There is a public Flickr account, now managed by the National Archives, that has 14,995 photos from the Trump White House, a third of them listing Ms. Craighead as the photographer."

Volvo says copyright claim to photo of SC-made S60 doesn’t extend to Instagram; Post and Courier, August 16, 2020

David Wren, Post and Courier; Volvo says copyright claim to photo of SC-made S60 doesn’t extend to Instagram

"The Facebook-owned photo- and video-tagging app has created a legal gray area by requiring its users to grant the social media site a copyright license for any images they upload. Instagram can then sublicense those rights to others. In a recent similar case, however, Instagram said anyone who reposts images also might need a license from the original photographer."

Court Rules Photographer Gave Up Exclusive Licensing Rights by Posting on Instagram; The Hollywood Reporter, April 14, 2020

Eriq Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter; Court Rules Photographer Gave Up Exclusive Licensing Rights by Posting on Instagram

"When it comes to appropriating images found online, the situation is understandably confusing. If an individual posts something on social media, does that give someone else the right to use it in a different forum? Most lawyers would likely answer, "Not so fast," and yet on Monday came a suggestive ruling perhaps otherwise from a New York federal court."

Copyright vs. Conscience: Lawyering Up Isn’t Always the Right Move; PetaPixel, August 21, 2018

Blair Bunting, PetaPixel; Copyright vs. Conscience: Lawyering Up Isn’t Always the Right Move

"You read stories about photographers going after copyright abuse all the time, and it’s nearly always justified. In this case, I hope you can agree with me that seeking monetary compensation through legal recourse was not the right move. Sometimes you have to step back and remember that this may be a business, but it’s a business that relies on people. Once in a while, you have to remember that everyone featured in a photograph is a human, and as such all deserve compassion.

Rest in peace, Old Man."

Two skyline photo cases, two different results; Lexology, August 9, 2018

Thompson Coburn LLP - Mark Sableman, 

Lexology; Two skyline photo cases, two different results

"Two cases involving photographs of city skylines illustrate what is, and isn’t, copyright infringement."

5 Common Copyright Misconceptions Held by Photographers; PetaPixel, June 6, 2018

Allen Murabayashi, PetaPixel; 

5 Common Copyright Misconceptions Held by Photographers

"The most recent version of the Copyright Law of the United States (December 2016) weighs in at a whopping 354 pages. And while there are areas of ambiguity, the basics and benefits of copyright registration for photographers are well-documented. Unfortunately, well-documented doesn’t mean well-understood, so we asked attorney (and former photo rep) Leslie Burns to weigh in on a number of common copyright misconceptions that still persist, and why you should register your copyright."

Photographers Shutter at Plan to Boost Copyright Fees; Bloomberg, June 4, 2018

Anandashankar Mazumdar, Bloomberg; Photographers Shutter at Plan to Boost Copyright Fees

"A U.S. Copyright Office proposal to nearly double some fees has freelance photographers feeling exposed.

The agency wants to increase fees for a range of services. The fee for registering a single book or song, for example, would rise from $55 to $75 under the proposal. The fee for registering up to 750 images at once—something photographers often do—would jump from $55 to $100. The office will accept comments on the proposal until July 23.

The proposal is one more potential hurdle for photographers, who have grappled with rapid changes in markets and technology since the 1990s and struggle to police their copyrights in the digital age. Critics say the increase will discourage photographers from registering their copyrights, which runs counter to public interest."

Copyright Case Over Richard Prince Instagram Show to Go Forward; New York Times, July 20, 2017

Andrew R. Chow, New York Times; Copyright Case Over Richard Prince Instagram Show to Go Forward

"Richard Prince, who has pushed the legal limits of artistic appropriation for decades, will continue to fight for his art in court. This week, a federal judge in New York refused to throw out a photographer’s lawsuit against Mr. Prince over Mr. Prince’s use of an image in an exhibition. The case will continue, and could set a precedent for how the fair-use doctrine relates to Instagram, the photo-sharing app."