Angry Instagram posts won’t stop Meta AI from using your content; Popular Science, June 5, 2024

Mack DeGeurin, Popular Science; Angry Instagram posts won’t stop Meta AI from using your content

"Meta, the Mark Zuckerberg-owned tech giant behind Instagram, surprised many of the app’s estimated 1.2 billion global users with a shock revelation last month. Images, including original artwork and other creative assets uploaded to the company’s platforms, are now being used to train the company’s AI image generator. That admission, initially made public by Meta executive Chris Cox during an interview with Bloomberg last month, has elicited a fierce backlash from some creators. As of writing, more than 130,000 Instagram users have reshared a message on Instagram telling the company they do not consent to it using their data to train Meta AI. Those pleas, however, are founded on a fundamental misunderstanding of creators’ relationship with extractive social media platforms. These creators already gave away their work, whether they realize it or not."

Adobe gets called out for violating its own AI ethics; Digital Trends, June 3, 2024

  Andrew Tarantola , Digital Trends; Adobe gets called out for violating its own AI ethics

"Last Friday, the estate of famed 20th century American photographer Ansel Adams took to Threads to publicly shame Adobe for allegedly offering AI-genearated art “inspired by” Adams’ catalog of work, stating that the company is “officially on our last nerve with this behavior.”...

Adobe has since removed the offending images, conceding in the Threads conversation that, “this goes against our Generative AI content policy.”

However, the Adams estate seemed unsatisfied with that response, claiming that it had been “in touch directly” with the company “multiple times” since last August. “Assuming you want to be taken seriously re: your purported commitment to ethical, responsible AI, while demonstrating respect for the creative community,” the estate continued, “we invite you to become proactive about complaints like ours, & to stop putting the onus on individual artists/artists’ estates to continuously police our IP on your platform, on your terms.”"

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."

Court of Appeal ruling will prevent UK museums from charging reproduction fees—at last; The Art Newspaper, December 29, 2023

Bendor Grosvenor , The Art Newspaper; Court of Appeal ruling will prevent UK museums from charging reproduction fees—at last

"A recent judgement on copyright in the Court of Appeal (20 November) heralds the end of UK museums charging fees to reproduce historic artworks. In fact, it suggests museums have been mis-selling “image licences” for over a decade. For those of us who have been campaigning on the issue for years, it is the news we’ve been waiting for.

The judgement is important because it confirms that museums do not have valid copyright in photographs of (two-dimensional) works which are themselves out of copyright. It means these photographs are in the public domain, and free to use.

Museums use copyright to restrict the circulation of images, obliging people to buy expensive licences. Any thought of scholars sharing images, or using those available on museum websites, was claimed to be a breach of copyright. Not surprisingly, most people paid up. Copyright is the glue that holds the image fee ecosystem in place.

What has now changed? Museums used to rely on the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, which placed a low threshold on how copyright was acquired; essentially, if some degree of “skill and labour” was involved in taking a photograph of a painting, then that photograph enjoyed copyright. But subsequent case law has raised the bar, as the new Appeal Court judgement makes clear."

Can You Copyright a Photograph of Your AI Art?; Make Use Of, August 3, 2023

CRAIG BOEHMAN, Make Use Of; Can You Copyright a Photograph of Your AI Art?

"So you've created an AI-generated artwork. You've used only prompts. And by law, you can't copyright it, so what do you do?

You take a picture of it!

By taking a picture of the work, not only do you own the copyright of the photo, but you also enjoy all the other protections of copyright, including the right to use your photo commercially."

Disfarmer heir, Little Rock museum argue over copyright; Arkansas Democrat Gazette, June 18, 2023

Bill Bowden , Arkansas Democrat Gazette; Disfarmer heir, Little Rock museum argue over copyright

"According to Stewart, the museum has no claim to the copyright because it has no document showing that the copyright was passed from Disfarmer or his heirs to the museum, or anyone else.

In the June 1 filing, Stewart's attorneys cited 17 U.S.C. § 204: "A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner's duly authorized agent.""

Photographers Score Early Victories in Copyright Lawsuits Against Artist Richard Prince; PetaPixel, May 16, 2023

 PESALA BANDARA, PetaPixel; Photographers Score Early Victories in Copyright Lawsuits Against Artist Richard Prince

"Two professional photographers have scored early victories in a pair of long-running copyright lawsuits against artist Richard Prince for his controversial Instagram-sourced New Portraits series."

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."

Copyright lawsuit over artist who used Ruth Bader Ginsburg photo dismissed; UPI, March 18, 2023

Adam Schrader, UPI ; Copyright lawsuit over artist who used Ruth Bader Ginsburg photo dismissed

"A federal judge has sided with an artist who used a photograph of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her art without the permission of the photo agency that sued her."

Photo Agency Sues Twitter for $228.9 Million Over Copyright Infringement; PetaPixel, January 12, 2023

 PESALA BANDARA, PetaPixel; Photo Agency Sues Twitter for $228.9 Million Over Copyright Infringement

"Photo agency Backgrid and ten anonymous defendants have sued Twitter for allegedly failing to take down more than 1,500 photographs of celebrities owned by them and illegally posted to the platform by users.

According to the lawsuit filed on December 30, 2022, Backgrid alleges it sent over 6,700 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices to Twitter requesting the removal of its copyrighted photos, but Twitter failed to respond or take down a single image.

Furthermore, Backgrid claims that its images were posted continuously by some Twitter users, but the social media platform failed to suspend any accounts under its “repeat infringer” policy."

Some of Trump’s New NFTs Look Like Photoshops of Google Search Results; PetaPixel, December 16, 2022

JARON SCHNEIDER, PetaPixel; Some of Trump’s New NFTs Look Like Photoshops of Google Search Results

"After hyping a major announcement, Donald Trump revealed his next major project: NFTs. But reverse image searches of some of the “digital trading cards” revealed them to be edits of clothing easily found in Google search, raising copyright questions...

While these images aren’t what most would consider to be the height of photographic art, they are still photos that are presumably owned by a manufacturer and using images — even e-commerce photos — without permission in this manner brings up copyright questions: it may not be legal, not to mention unethical, to just take photos off web stores, turn them into “art,” and then sell them for $99 each.

Gizmodo says it reached out to the manufacturer of both pieces of clothing to ask if either granted the former U.S. President permission to use their images, but neither immediately responded." 

As the 'engine of free expression,' copyright law plays a vital role in enabling journalists to shine a light on injustice; The Hill, June 11, 2020

Terrica Carrington, Tom Kennedy, and Akili-Casundria Ramsess; As the 'engine of free expression,' copyright law plays a vital role in enabling journalists to shine a light on injustice

"An op-ed published in the Washington Post unjustly criticized the IP Subcommittee, as well as Don Henley and the other creators who were asked to testify on June 2, for “debating the nuances of copyright law” in the midst of this unrest. There is no doubt that last week’s DMCA hearing was far from the most significant or newsworthy thing to happen in recent weeks, but it was necessary. And while the link may seem attenuated on the surface, ensuring that copyright law is effective plays a critical role in enabling the press to report on the events unfolding all across the country, elevate the voices of marginalized communities, and hold those in power accountable."

How to find copyright-free images (and avoiding a stock photo subscription); TNW, April 29, 2020

MIX , TNW; How to find copyright-free images (and avoiding a stock photo subscription)

"If you search for any term and head to the Images section in Google, you’ll instantly find thousands of images. There’s one issue, though: Some of them might be copyrighted and you might be putting yourself (or your employer) at risk. Fortunately, you can filter images by usage rights, which will help you avoid that...

Here are a couple of our favorite free stock photo sites:

• Unsplash
• Pixabay
• Pexels
• StockSnap
• Burst

If you’re looking for copyright-free PNG cutouts, you should check out PNGPlay, Icon8, and PNGimg.

Even though a lot of these images are free to use without any attribution, you can support the creators by giving them credit, which in turn gives their work more exposure. You might not have the resources to purchase their images, but someone else might be interested in hiring them. Crediting them for their work helps with that.

You get to save some money by avoiding buying a Shutterstock subscription, they get free exposure. It’s a win-win."

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."

SpaceX Just Retroactively Put Copyright Restrictions on Its Photos; Motherboard, December 11, 2019

Karl Bode, Motherboard;

SpaceX Just Retroactively Put Copyright Restrictions on Its Photos

"As SpaceX began supplanting NASA in humanity’s quest to explore outer space, Motherboard pondered in 2015 what would happen to the public’s unfettered access to space imagery data (images taken by NASA are in the public domain and can be used by anyone for almost any purpose.) Thankfully, SpaceX soon after made the important decision to offer mission images under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) License, allowing them to be freely shared and even remixed by anyone. This is the least-restrictive Creative Commons license in existence and allows anyone to use the photos for almost anything (you could, for example, make and sell a photo book or calendar of SpaceX images if you wanted to.)

But a little noticed change to the SpaceX Flickr account this week stripped away the CC0 license affixed to the company’s images, replacing it with an “Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic” license. That, in turn, imposed notable and potentially confusing restrictions on how those images can be shared and re-used."

Library of Congress Puts Rosa Parks Archive Online; New York Times, 2/25/16

Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times; Library of Congress Puts Rosa Parks Archive Online:

"The Library of Congress has digitized the papers of Rosa Parks, enabling free online access to everything from her first-hand recollections of the Montgomery bus boycott and personal correspondence with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to family photographs, tax returns and a handwritten recipe for “featherlite pancakes.”

The collection, which includes roughly 7,500 manuscript items and 2,500 photographs, is on loan to the library for 10 years from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which acquired the collection in 2014 after a dispute involving Parks’s heirs that had left the papers languishing in a warehouse for nearly a decade following her death in 2005. (If the archives move elsewhere, the digital files will remain at the library.)"

Flooding Threatens The Times’s Picture Archive; New York Times, 10/12/15

David W. Dunlap, New York Times; Flooding Threatens The Times’s Picture Archive:

"A broken pipe on Saturday morning sent water cascading into the morgue — the storage area where The Times keeps its immense collection of historical photos, along with newspaper clippings, microfilm records, books and other archival material — causing minor damage and raising significant alarm.

And it raised the question of how in the digital age — and in the prohibitive Midtown Manhattan real estate market — can some of the company’s most precious physical assets and intellectual property be safely and reasonably stored?

Jeff Roth, the morgue manager, said it appeared that about 90 percent of the affected photos would be salvageable, but it is too early to say with any certainty how many were lost.

Though he stood undaunted among rubber drums and wastebaskets catching the residual water dripping from the ceiling, Mr. Roth made it clear that this was the stuff of nightmares."

Big new copyright fair use decision involving part owner of Miami Heat; Washington Post, 9/17/15

Eugene Volokh, Washington Post; Big new copyright fair use decision involving part owner of Miami Heat:

"I blogged about this case back when the magistrate judge issued his report, but today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed (Katz v. Chevaldina), and concluded that defendant Irina Chevaldina’s use of the photo shown above is a fair use. The twist: The subject of the photo, Raanan Katz, bought the photo after it was published and used by Chevaldina, and then sued her in his capacity as now-owner of the photograph. No dice, said the court, concluding — in my view correctly — that Chevaldina’s use was a “fair use” and thus not an infringement..."

A New Copyright Complaint Against Richard Prince; New York Times, 2/16/15

Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times; A New Copyright Complaint Against Richard Prince:

"A lawyer for the photographer Donald Graham has sent cease-and-desist letters to the artist Richard Prince and the Gagosian Gallery, requesting that they stop displaying or disseminating any artworks or other materials that include Mr. Graham’s images.

The complaint, which was first reported by the website Hyperallergic, stems from a work shown last fall at Gagosian in the exhibit “New Portraits,” which featured ink jet prints of images Mr. Prince had taken from Instagram. The work shows Mr. Graham’s photograph “Rastafarian Smoking a Joint, Jamaica” as it appeared on the Instagram feed of a third party, with the comment “Canal Zinian da lam jam” added by Mr. Prince."