Haitian AFP Getty Images
November 28, 2013 by staff
Haitian AFP Getty Images, Photographers have won a landmark victory after a US federal jury awarded $1.2m to freelance photojournalist Daniel Morel after media giants uploaded and credited to themselves some shots he had posted on Twitter.
A New York jury decisively backed a Haitian photojournalist Morel in a copyright case against photo agency Getty and news agency AFP, after the latter claimed a right to use Morel’s photographs of the 2010 Haiti disaster.
AFP had argued that by posting the photos on TwitPic/Twitter, Morel had granted the agency licence to use the shots.
The jury, unimpressed by the behaviour of Getty and AFP, awarded $1.2m against the two giants – far more than they needed to for wilful infringement, and the maximum they could award under US law.
“They thought they could crush this guy from Haiti: they were wrong,” said Morel after the verdict.
Morel had posted 13 photos of the aftermath of the earthquake to a TwitPic account. They were picked up by a Dominican tweeter who had spotted Morel’s photos and hijacked them, and they were subsequently distributed by AFP with the credit “AFP-Getty-Suaero” (Suaero being the last name of the individual whose account they took it from).
But TwitPic’s T&Cs clearly state: “All images uploaded are copyright © their respective owners”, and Morel promptly sent them a ceast-and-desist order – in 2010, when the infringement had taken place.
Amazingly, AFP’s response after being served with the order was to sue the photographer for “commercial disparagement” and to ask the court to declare that they had not infringed his copyright. No good deed goes unpunished, it seems. But late on Friday the trial rejected the AFP and Getty defence and awarded the snapper $1.2m in damages.
Photographer Jeremy Nicholl, who has covered the case in detail on his blog (timeline and was present in court – Twitter), says the result shows the public decisively backs the creator in copyright law cases.
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