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Posts Tagged ‘copyrights’

Flickr partners with Pixsy to create end-to-end platform for protecting image copyrights

09 Apr

Flickr has announced a new strategic partnership with Pixsy, an online legal-tech service that helps photographers protect and enforce their copyrights. The new partnership allows Flickr Pro users an end-to-end solution to track their images and take legal action in the event a photograph is stolen and used illegally.

Starting today, Flickr Pro members can integrate their Flickr images with Pixsy’s advanced monitoring and protection platform which allows access to 1,000 monitored images, 10 DMCA takedown notices and unlimited case submissions.

When a copyright infringement is detected by Pixsy, an alert will be sent to the user with the option to decide what should be done next. The press release says ‘Photographers have access to a comprehensive case resolution service to recover lost licensing revenue and damages, along with the tools to register images with the US Copyright office and send automated DMCA takedown notice.’

Pixsy works alongside law firms around the globe on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. Pixsy says it’s handled more than 70,000 copyright infringement cases to date, resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue.

To get started, head to your account settings page on Flickr, locate Pixsy under the ‘Pro Perks’ section and select ‘Redeem.’ From there you’ll be directed to Pixsy, where you will link your Flickr and Pixsy accounts.

For more information, head on over to Flickr’s announcement post.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Singer Ariana Grande now requires photographers to transfer full image copyrights

28 Mar

Singer Ariana Grande is facing criticism over a new highly restrictive concert tour agreement that requires photographers to surrender their full image copyrights. News about the latest contract surfaced through gossip website TMZ, which claims the requirement stems from having ‘been taken advantage of by greedy photogs in the past.’

Under the new contract, photographers are limited to taking images during a concert’s first three songs from a ‘designated spot,’ and all images are captured on a work-made-for-hire basis. This in itself isn’t unusual, as the three-song policy has long been a staple in the music world. It’s the image rights where things get a little far-reaching; all rights related to the images are transferred to the singer’s company GrandAriTour Inc. — the contract specifically mentions that this includes ‘all copyrights.’

The contract also states:

At Company’s request, Photographer hereby agrees to promptly provide Company with one (1) complete set of contact sheets and digital files of any and all Photographs taken in connection with the Performance, for personal, commercial and/or archival use by Company and Artist (and the licensees and designees of Company and/or Artist).

Though the contract grants photographers ‘limited rights to use certain Photograph(s),’ they must first get approval in writing from Grande herself or, in some cases, the company.

The new policy has been criticized by a number photographers and prompted a letter from the National Press Photographers Associaton (NPPA) co-signed by more than a dozen notable agencies and news outlets, including the Associated Press and Gannett Company. In the letter, the organizations call the policy a ‘very troubling over-reach’ that ‘runs counter to legal and industry standards and is anathema to core journalistic principles,’ among other things.

Photo credits: Image by Melissa Rose, used under CC BY 2.0

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Kodak’s photo service KodakIt criticized for stripping photographers of copyrights

27 Feb

Renewed controversy surrounds Eastman Kodak subsidiary KodakIt, a service launched in 2017 as a way to provide businesses with on-demand access to photographers around the globe. The service was criticized in its early days for offering very low payments, but a new report from PDN highlights another problem: it requires photographers to completely surrender their copyrights.

A report from PDN digs into KodakIt’s ‘Photographer Terms and Conditions,’ noting that it requires its photographers to ‘perpetually and irrevocably’ hand over their copyright to the client who purchased the work — in fact, it specifies ‘the entire copyright’ and all rights associated with it.

Photographers are required to get permission from KodakIt and the client before using any images — including outtakes — for personal promotion. As well, the ‘Photographer Terms and Conditions’ requires KodakIt’s photographers to either destroy or surrender to the client any outtakes from the project.

KodakIt’s restrictions continue from there, also including a ‘Moral Rights Waiver’ as part of its terms and conditions. Under this, the service’s photographers are required to waive all ‘moral rights’ to the work, which includes claiming they shot the images and in any way interfering with ‘the modification or destruction of a work.’

A full copy of the Photographer Terms and Conditions, which was valid as of July 1, 2018, can be found here [PDF].

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lawsuit ruling sends clear message: Register your photo copyrights ASAP

02 Aug

Though copyright is automatically granted to creators for their created works in the United States, the option remains to officially (and voluntarily) register those copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office. As detailed on Copyright.gov, this registration bestows certain benefits and may, in certain circumstances, be necessary: “Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U.S. origin.”

A recent U.S. lawsuit involving infringement may set a precedent regarding whether a copyrighted work is considered registered for the purposes of an infringement suit if the registration application is still pending.

The matter revolves around a lawsuit filed by photojournalist Matilde Gattoni against clothing retailer Tibi over its unauthorized use of her photo. According to the lawsuit, Gattoni posted one of her own photos on her Instagram; this image was taken in Morocco and her copyright registration was still pending in the U.S. Though the Instagram post included a copyright notice, the lawsuit claims Tibi cropped the image, posted the cropped portion on its own Instagram, and included only a link to Gattoni’s Instagram sans copyright info.

The lawsuit aimed to hit Tibi for both a DMCA violation and copyright infringement, seeking between $ 2,500 and $ 25,000 for the alleged DMCA violation and up to $ 150,000 in damages for the copyright infringement.

However, things didn’t quite go as Gattoni had hoped. U.S. District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet has ruled that while the case can proceed with the DMCA claim, it must do so without the copyright infringement claim due to the copyright registration’s ‘pending’ status. Discussing this matter in particular, the court stated:

Because Gattoni has alleged only that the registration for the allegedly infringed film is pending, and because no application has been made by Gattoni to amend the Complaint if and when the Photograph became registered, Gattoni has not properly pled the pre-requisite element of a copyright infringement claim.

While some courts have accepted pending copyright registration as suitable for meeting the infringement lawsuit prerequisites, others—such as this one—have chosen to accept only a complete registration as acceptable. According to Lexology, Second Circuit federal courts have sided with the completed registration interpretation of the requirements.

Photographs can register their image copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office through its online eCO system. Details on how to register photo copyrights in particular are offered here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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