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Posts Tagged ‘sues’

Photographer sues Microsoft for $2.25M, alleges copyright infringement of 15 images

03 Jun

Microsoft has been sued over alleged copyright infringement by photographer Matilde Gattoni, who has accused the corporation of using several of her images for an MSN article without permission or a proper license. The lawsuit was filed on May 19 in the Southern District of New York and seeks damages potentially amounting to $ 150,000 per image allegedly infringed upon.

Gattoni’s images are featured in an article titled ‘These are the women leading China’s wine revolution,’ which appears on the Wall Street Journal’s website and on the MSN website, which includes a Washington Post header on the article, indicating that it is a syndicated work. Before both of those posts, the article with the same images was published in December 2018 by SCMP.

The new lawsuit is directed only at Microsoft, which is accused of using the images from that article on its MSN news website without permission or license.

The lawsuit alleges, in part:

Microsoft is not, and has never been, licensed or otherwise authorized to reproduce, publically display, distribute and/or use the Photographs … Upon information and belief, the foregoing acts of infringement by Microsoft have been willful, intentional, and purposeful, in disregard of and indifference to Plaintiff’s rights.

Gattoni’s images are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. The lawsuit seeks either actual damages, among other things, or statutory damages up to $ 150,000 per copyrighted image allegedly infringed upon. The MSN article contains a total of 15 of Gattoni’s images, which, assuming Microsoft paid $ 150,000 for each, would amount to $ 2,250,000.

The legal document is, at this point in time, quite short with no mention of the Washington Post, the header for which is featured on the MSN article. It’s unclear what license the WaPo received for the article and images, how that license may impact MSN’s use of the content and, ultimately, the viability of the copyright lawsuit.

This isn’t Gattoni’s first copyright lawsuit. As we detailed in 2017, Gattoni had sued the clothing retailer Tibi over its alleged use of her photos without permission or license. In that case, the lawsuit had accused Tibi of cropping one of Gattoni’s Instagram images, which had been published alongside a copyright notice; its copyright registration was still pending in the US at that time, however.

In that case, the judge had ruled that while Gattoni could go after Tibi with a DMCA claim, the copyright infringement claim couldn’t proceed because the copyright registration was still pending at the time. Photographers can register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office through its online eCO registration portal.

Microsoft is the latest in a long line of big companies and news publications sued over alleged copyright infringement. In April, for example, a New York court ruled that digital media website Mashable didn’t infringe upon an image copyright by embedding an image a photographer had uploaded to Instagram after a long squabble over the matter. Likewise, photographer Carol M. Highsmith sued Getty Images for $ 1 billion in July 2016 over its alleged infringement of more than 18,000 of her images.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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NPPA sues California over controversial ‘freelancer’ bill that harms photojournalists

19 Dec

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has announced its new lawsuit against California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), which forces some independent contractors (freelancers) to become employees of their clients.

The AB5 bill was passed in September but won’t go into effect until next month. Though the law aims to prevent companies from exploiting workers by falsely declaring them as independent contractors, critics say it unfairly restricts people like freelance photojournalists who desire the freedom and copyright benefits associated with being an independent contractor.

In a statement published on Wednesday, the NPPA claims this law ‘discriminates against some visual journalists’ who wish to work as freelancers but are instead forced to become employees ‘whether they desire this working relationship or not.’

The NPPA argues that this legal requirement violates the U.S Constitution because, in part, only certain freelancers are covered by it; others, including graphic artists and marketing photographers, are allowed to retain their independent contractor status.

Photojournalists who also shoot video are forbidden from acting as freelancers under Assembly Bill 5, as well, which the NPPA alleges is ‘a content-based restriction on speech.’ Other issues introduced by AB5 include a limit of 35 assignments or submissions per year per client for still image photojournalists. The organization notes that many other types of freelancers also face similar restrictions, including freelance writers and freelance editors.

The NPPA lays out the negative impact this law will have on freelancers, stating:

NPPA members impacted by the law range from retirees who will be losing extra income to mid-career professionals whose journalism clients are part of their overall business model. All of the impacted members are experienced journalists, trained in ethics and professional standards, who keep their local community informed on matters of public concern. Their voices will be silenced when the impact of AB5 hits their businesses. Some NPPA members report that their income from certain clients is expected to drop by 60-75% next year due to AB5.

In addition to earning concerns, the organization also points out that by forcing photographers to work as employees, these photojournalists will lose the copyrights to the images they capture under their employment, whereas freelancers retain the copyrights unless they choose to surrender them to their clients.

Ultimately, the organization claims that it repeatedly attempted to get the bill modified so that it won’t negatively impact freelance photojournalists, but that California lawmakers have been ‘unsympathetic and unresponsive to our pleas.’ The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles, California; the full legal complaint can be accessed on the NPPA’s website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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VSCO sues PicsArt for allegedly reverse engineering its filters

09 Apr
An exhibit provided in the complaint that shows PicsArt’s Gold subscription platform, which is where VSCO alleges its reverse engineered filters ended up.

Visual Supply Company, more commonly referred to as VSCO, has filed a lawsuit against the creators of PicsArt, a photo editing application, claiming the company reverse engineered a number of its photo filters found in its mobile application.

According to the complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, 17 PicsArt employees created VSCO accounts and used them to reverse engineer at least 19 presets VSCO offers, a violation of the terms of the VSCO app which state users ‘agree not to sell, license, rent, modify, distribute, copy, reproduce, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, publish, adapt, edit or create derivative works from any VSCO Content.’

VSCO says it attempted to remedy the situation out of court with a letter, sent to PicsArt in February 2019, demanding the company remove the reverse engineered presets from its app, provide accounting records for all profits and revenue made from the presets and identify all of the PicsArt employees who had opened an account with VSCO. PicsArt subsequently said it would remove all of the filters by March 22, 2019, but as of the complaint’s filing date, only 17 had been removed and two new filters PicsArt is publicizing appear to be reverse engineered as well.

An exhibit in the complaint that details a social media post that shows a pair of filters that VSCO claims PicsArt reverse engineered to sell as part of its own subscription service.

Now, PicsArt employees creating VSCO accounts alone isn’t too suspicious, but VSCO appears to have more than suspicion alone to back up its claims. According to the lawsuit:

VSCO’s color scientists have determined that at least nineteen presets published by PicsArt are effectively identical to VSCO presets that are only available through a VSCO account. Specifically, VSCO determined that those PicsArt filters have a Mean Color Difference (“MCD”) of less than two CIEDE2000 units (in some cases, far less than two units) compared to their VSCO counterparts. An MCD of less than two CIEDE2000 units between filters is imperceptible to the human eye and cannot have been achieved by coincidence or visual or manual approximation. On information and belief, PicsArt could have only achieved this degree of similarity between its filters and those of VSCO by using its employees’ VSCO user accounts to access the VSCO app and reverse engineer VSCO’s presets.

PicsArt has denied these allegations, with a spokesperson sharing the following statement with TechCrunch:

VSCO is not a direct competitor, but they clearly feel threatened by PicsArt. VSCO’s claims are meritless. It’s disappointing that they have made these false claims against us. PicsArt will vigorously defend itself against these baseless claims and all options are under consideration.

VSCO doesn’t mention a specific dollar value in the complaint, but asks for ‘compensatory damages, disgorgement of profits, corrective advertising, and costs and attorneys’ fees.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photojournalist Andrew Grimm sues Ohio deputy who shot him

21 Dec

In September, New Carlisle News photographer Andrew Grimm was shot by Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Shaw when the officer mistook Grimm’s camera for a firearm. The incident, which was captured by Shaw’s body camera, happened while Grimm was setting up his equipment to photograph Shaw, who was in the middle of a traffic stop.

The body camera footage shows Grimm, who was shot in the chest and grazed in the shoulder, telling Shaw that he had both flashed his car lights and waved in order to alert the deputy to his presence. Shaw, who knew Grimm, was recorded by his camera saying, “Andy, I’m sorry, brother. Listen, dude, you pulled that out like a gun out of the back of the Jeep. I thought it was a freaking gun, Andy.”

Shaw reportedly failed to provide Grimm with any warnings before opening fire, which is said to have happened within seconds of Shaw exiting his cruiser. As reported at the time, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation opened an investigation into the matter.

Though Grimm had said shortly after the shooting that he hadn’t wanted Shaw to lose his job, the photographer and his wife, plus KBA News, have since filed a lawsuit against the Clark County Board of County Commissioners, the City of New Carlisle, Ohio, and Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Shaw. The lawsuit accuses Deputy Shaw of violating Grimm’s civil rights and using excessive force, seeking at least $ 75,000 in damages for a variety of claims.

Since the shooting, the lawsuit claims Grimm experiences both psychological and physical issues, including nervousness when around law enforcement officers, disturbed sleep, anxiety, and headaches. It also accuses the local Sheriff’s Office of having “ratified” Shaw’s actions by allowing him to return to work—despite the ongoing Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation probe, Deputy Shaw has been given role in the Clark County Jail—and that the Sheriff’s Office failed to properly train and supervise Shaw.

The suit was filed in the Ohio Southern District Court in Cincinnati with Judge Timothy S. Black presiding.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photographer sues Bruno Mars for posting childhood photo of himself on Instagram

29 Nov
Photo by Brothers Le, CC-BY-2.0

Singer Bruno Mars recently shared a childhood photo of himself from 1989, and now the photographer behind the photo, Catherine McGann, is suing him for copyright infringement. The image was shared by Mars back in June on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, amassing more than a million ‘likes’ and thousands of comments.

As of this writing, it’s still live on the pop star’s Instagram account:

A post shared by Bruno Mars (@brunomars) on

The lawsuit, which was first surfaced via TMZ, is being leveled against both Mars and record label Warner Music. According to McGann, Mars never asked for permission to share the image on his social media accounts, and the lawsuit seeks any and all profits made from the image’s use, plus damages.

A look at McGann’s Instagram page shows that she posted a version of the image with a copyright notice on November 3rd, 2016.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Corephotonics sues Apple over dual-camera zoom patents

08 Nov

Israel-based company Corephotonics—which is best known for its smartphone dual-camera systems—has filed a patent infringement case against Apple in federal court. The company claims that has used Corephotonics’ dual-camera zoom technology in the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus without authorization.

According to the complaint, Corephotonics Chief Executive David Mendlovic had attempted to negotiate a partnership with Apple. However, while Corephotonics received positive feedback on their technology from Apple, the iPhone makers refused a licensing deal, suggesting Corephotonics patents could be infringed with little consequence.

From the lawsuit:

As one of its first acts as a company, Corephotonics reached out to Apple in the hopes of establishing a strategic partnership. Corephotonics received many encouraging reports and positive feedback from Apple about its technology, but the parties never concluded a license to the Corephotonics technology.

In fact, after one failed effort to negotiate a license, Apple’s lead negotiator expressed contempt for Corephotonics’ patents, telling Dr. Mendlovic and others that even if Apple infringed, it would take years and millions of dollars in litigation before Apple might have to pay something.

Corephotonics investors include Foxconn and chipmaker MediaTek, which are both suppliers to Apple. In the lawsuit the company is represented by legal firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which also advised Samsung Electronics on its patent litigation with Apple.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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CBS sues photographer for sharing TV show screenshots on social media

02 Nov

CBS Broadcasting is suing photojournalist Jon Tannen for doing something you (and most people you know) have probably done: sharing screenshots from an old television show on social media. The lawsuit is being characterized a ‘retaliatory strike’ by some, since Tannen filed his own copyright infringement lawsuit against CBS Interactive back in February.

The whole story came to light on Torrent Freak, and serves as a cautionary tale for photographers who are thinking of pursuing infringement claims against the big studios—CBS, ABC, FOX, Warner Brothers, etc.—in court. Often the evidence in these cases is strong and a settlement is reached, but sometimes… the studios fight back.

That was the case with Tannen, who sued CBS Interactive in February of this year over the unauthorized use of two copyrighted photos on the website 247sports.com (the second time this had happened). But what might have turned into a quick settlement has instead been met with a countersuit by CBS Broadcasting, who found screenshots from the television show Gunsmoke (1955-1975) on Tannen’s social media.

The CBS lawsuit brands Tannen a ‘hypocrite’ and seeks $ 150,000 in damages for willful infringement—the same amount Tannen wants per infringement of his own work.

“This copyright infringement action arises out of Defendant’s unauthorized use of Plaintiff’s valuable intellectual property,” reads the CBS complaint. “Tannen hypocritically engaged in this act of infringement while simultaneously bringing suit against Plaintiff’s sister company, CBS Interactive Inc., claiming it had violated his own copyright.”

It will be a while before these lawsuits sort themselves out, but CBS’ retaliation against Tannen is raising eyebrows because this kind of image use is so prevalent online, and almost always assumed to constitute fair use. Of course, whether or not the countersuit has any legal ground to stand on may be irrelevant… CBS has just laid out a blueprint for other major studios looking for a way to retaliate against potential infringement claims.

You can read Tannen’s complaint against CBS here, and CBS’ countersuit here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photographer sues New York Times over age discrimination and ‘full-time freelancer’ status

21 Oct
Photo by Haxorjoe

The New York Times and its photography director Michele McNally have been hit with a lawsuit by former Times’ photographer Robert Stolarik. The lawsuit claims that Stolarik, age 48, was discriminated against due to his age, and was also misclassified as a ‘full-time freelancer’ for nearly a decade.

According to the complaint—which was filed on July 6th in New York and covered at that time by Bloomberg BNA—Stolarik began working for the Times as a photographer in Colombia in 2000, followed by additional work in Venezuela until 2002. Stolarik then resumed working for the Times in 2004, the legal document explains, ultimately resulting in nearly a decade of full-time work.

However, despite working full-time, the lawsuit claims that Stolarik was paid under a 1099-MISC form as a freelancer—a classification that deprived Stolarik of the benefits that would have come with full-time employment, including health insurance.

The complaint alleges that editors managed Stolarik in the same manner as employees, including giving specific start times for his assignments which regularly comprised 8-hour shifts. Stolarik claims that he was denied overtime pay for extended shifts and that he was not compensated for the time he was required to spend editing photos outside of his assignment hours.

The allegations continue from there, claiming that Stolarik ‘regularly sought’ a staff photographer position with the NYT, making his desires known both in writing and orally. Age discrimination allegedly prevented him from getting a full-time role with the company, though. The complaint states that “Stolarik was told on numerous occasions by various editors that he was too old” to get the staff position he sought.

One Times editor is accused of having asked Stolarik if he was under 30 years old, abandoning an effort to get him a staff position after learning that he was, at the time, 37. Another editor reportedly told Stolarik that he should be ‘concerned about’ his age in regards to his desire for a staff position, telling him on multiple occasions that he was too old to be an employee.

During his years spent freelancing for the Times, the lawsuit states that Stolarik’s requests for a staff role were ignored in favor of hiring photographers who were under the age of 30. The lawsuit also claims that the Times regularly gave assignments to its freelancers under the age of 30 versus its freelancers over the age of 30.

Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that the Times denied Stolarik assignments due to a wrongful arrest he suffered in the Bronx while on assignment for the company. Per the complaint, an NYPD officer had ordered Stolarik to stop taking photographs. The altercation resulted in Stolarik’s ‘violent arrest,’ which snowballed into the Times’ alleged decision to decrease the photographer’s assignments with the company.

Finally, the lawsuit also states that Stolarik’s lawyer sent a letter to the Times’ general counsel claiming that he had been discriminated against due to the arrest he suffered while on assignment, as well as his age. This complaint allegedly resulted in McNally ordering Times editors to stop giving Stolarik assignments altogether.

Among other things, the lawsuit seeks back pay, unpaid wages, overtime pay, and unpaid benefits in actual damages totaling at least $ 500,000, as well as compensatory damages, interest, costs and disbursements.

As Ramin Talaie points out on Medium, this lawsuit serves to highlight growing issues with the so-called ‘gig economy,’ which classifies workers as independent contractors despite work arrangements that may mirror that of employees. The classification gives companies a way to save money, but saddles the worker with self-employment tax while eliminating the protections and benefits that come from employee classification.

The full complaint can be read here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photographer sues Procter & Gamble for $75M over copyright violations

19 Jul

Mega-company Procter & Gamble is being sued by Cincinnati-based photographer Annette Navarro, who alleges that P&G used some of her photographs beyond the time frame and region for which she was paid.

The company allegedly paid to use Navarro’s photos cited in the lawsuit for the duration of three years and only within North America, but continued to use them after the three years had expired, and put them on international products as well. If found guilty of copyright violations, Procter & Gamble could be on the hook for more than $ 75 million in damages.

According to the lawsuit, Procter & Gamble licensed some of Navarro’s photos for the North American market alone, something allegedly done as a way to reduce costs. However, complaints from modeling agencies alerted Navarro to the images’ use beyond the region for which they were licensed. Though P&G has since paid those modeling agencies, Navarro rejected the company’s proposed payment due to uncertainty about the extent of P&Gs alleged violations.

The complaint, which was filed with the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio on June 14, also cites Saatchi & Saatchi X and LPK as defendants. Procter & Gamble hasn’t yet issued a statement on the lawsuit.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Andy Warhol estate preemptively sues photographer over infringement claims

18 Apr

Photographer Lynn Goldsmith has been sued by The Andy Warhol Foundation following her alleged claims that the artist infringed upon a photo she took of musician Prince in 1981. The lawsuit appears to be a preemptive strike against Goldsmith; it argues that Warhol merely ‘drew inspiration’ from the photo to create an entirely new – and therefore infringement-free – image.

At the heart of the issue is a 1981 publicity photo of Prince taken by Goldsmith, who has allegedly raised issues with the artist’s estate over claims that Warhol’s ‘The Prince Series’ artwork infringes her copyright. The lawsuit seeks to establish that the artist’s work (made in 1984) is a new creation, thereby preventing any future potential lawsuits brought by the photographer against Warhol’s estate.

The lawsuit highlights elements of Warhol’s work that deviate from Goldsmith’s photograph, including, ‘substantially heavier makeup’ around the eyes, as well as a different angle of the head. According to The Wrap, Warhol’s estate is seeking a declaratory judgement stating both that the statute of limitations has run out on any possible infringement claims by Goldsmith, and likewise that the artist’s work does not violate the photographer’s copyright.

Via: The Wrap, US District Court via Scribd
Homepage photo By Jack Mitchell, CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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