Observer: UPDATED, July 29 at 3:30 p.m. Documentary photographer Carol Highsmith made what the Library of Congress calls “one of the greatest acts of generosity,” in the history of the institution, when she donated more than 18,000 of her photos to them in 2007. But her generosity—intended to empower anyone to use her iconic photos of cities across America—was taken advantage of.
Getty Images and Alamy Limited have apparently been charging users to use her photos, which they rejiggered with new watermarks, a new lawsuit, spotted by Hyperallergic, alleges. The 70-year-old photographer revealed this scam when the companies sent her a cease-and-desist letter for her own photo, after she posted it to her website. The letter demanded $120 payment.
Now, she’s suing—and she’s not messing around. She filed a complaint alleging copyright infringement in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on June 25, and asked for $1 billion in damages. MORE
Balsy and stupid. Sic your lawyers on the owner
They should be sued if the photos were public domain…but then how would she still have copyright?
$468,875,000 for actual damages, another 532 mil for punitive. Sounds about right. Or, as is reported, she can ask triple damages.
If you’re going to scoop up public domain photos donated by the originator, then charge for them (which is pretty ballsy) because there’s the hair-splitting lame-ass distinction “distributing content is different than claiming copyright for content”, I say go for it.
Or do I have this wrong? Visual artists here, chime in please.
Last paragraph in the article:
Here’s hoping that if her suit is successful, the photographer will be as generous with the awarded funds as she was with her photos. She could make a real dent in American student loan debt.
*Sigh 🙁
I’m pretty sure that particular photo is from a Clint Eastwood movie.
I think it was called Pale Rider.
😇
That photo was taken in Rhyolite, Nevada. More here: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12538
As a former stock photographer, I have absolutely no love for Getty/Alamy/istock/et al. This warms my heart and I pray for a happy (very expensive) ending.
@ho72, I came thisclose to working for Getty, and I’m so glad I didn’t.
I only considered it to get away from prima donna creative directors, but at Getty I found out it was much worse.
I hope this lady shooter gets every cent of the $1Billion.
Yeah, LBS. That was a WTF line for me too.
Dude needs a slapping until he wises up.
I have often wonder about this – thanks
Getty puts their stamp on official white house photos. WTF?
And the bastards don’t even photoshop them, they just tag ’em.
What the hell is up with that?