Photo Attorney:
Many photographers are also authors. If you published a book before January 5, 2009, your work may be subject to a class action lawsuit brought by authors and publishers, claiming that Google has violated their copyrights by scanning their books, creating an electronic database, and displaying short excerpts without the permission of the copyright holders.
The Media Equation – NYTimes.com:
Among other adventures, Google’s motives were called into question after it scanned in millions of books without permission, prompting the Authors Guild and publishers to file a class-action suit. The proposed $125 million settlement will lead to a book registry financed by Google and a huge online archive of mostly obscure books, searched and served up by Google.
So is that a big win for a culture that increasingly reads on screen — or a land grab of America’s most precious intellectual property?
ROSS DOUTHAT – NYTimes.com:
Mark Helprin could have ignored the barrage; he could have sifted it for arguments worth replying to. Instead, he decided to write a furious treatise against the comment-happy horde. The resulting book, “Digital Barbarism: A Writer’s Manifesto,” is a vindication of the aphorism about the perils of wrestling with a pig. (You get dirty; the pig likes it.) Helprin can be a wonderful wordsmith, and there are many admirable passages and strong arguments in this book. But the thread that binds the work together is hectoring, pompous and enormously tedious.
Photo Attorney says:
You’re sitting in your easy chair and surfing the web. You’re not paying much attention, until you see it. It’s your photo, but you did not post it there. You can’t believe they used your photo without your permission. Now what do you do? The steps you take may limit your ultimate remedies so be sure to first understand what your options are.
Thoughts of a Bohemian says:
There used to be something called “digital rights”. That is, when a publication wanted the right to publish a copy of an image to use in a digital format, it would pay an additional license fee. At first, like the internet itself or CD ROM (remember those ?) circulation, it was small. But everyone was preparing for the future. Now that its here, no one seem to notice.
Google is scanning books and will display them online, for a fee, without offering any compensation to non book copyright holders. That is 99% of images in books. They will however compensate publishers. Will the publisher compensate the photographers. Doubtful, since they are not the ones scanning and offering them.
Electronic Frontier Foundation says:
In posting the photos, the White House chose the least restrictive license available, a Creative Commons Attribution license — which means the public is free to download, copy, and re-mix freely, so long as the original photographer is credited.
While this is certainly better than releasing the photos under the usual copyright rules (no use without permission, specific license and compensation), the license made us wonder: if these are official photos by the official White House photographer, aren’t they government works? If so, they aren’t copyrightable, which means they needn’t be licensed at all, but should instead be flagged as public domain.
From Photo Attorney:
Instead of submitting an entry to her contest, it may be best to just sit back and enjoy her show.
From Threat Level, Wired.com:
Sunde, The Pirate Bay’s spokesman, announced the news over Twitter Friday morning before the verdict was official. He remained defiant, and offered comfort to supporters. “Stay calm — Nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or file sharing whatsoever. This is just a theater for the media.”
From Shepard Fairey, In Latest Legal Defense, Argues AP Copied His Poster:
The latest filing by Fairey’s attorneys includes 12 examples of images from the AP photo archive that show other works of art, including depictions of Fairey’s Obama poster.
From A Photo Editor – New Ruling Makes Slides And Film Worth $7:
Chris Usher has lost his appeal after a seven year battle against Corbis and each of his 12,640 images lost will be compensated for a lousy $7.00 a piece.
From SB2 video – The Basics of Copyright and Licensing at Strictly Business:
Copyright and licensing together are the business backbone of our industry. Both are rapidly evolving. Changes to copyright law are soon expected and the licensing model, as we once knew it, is under seize. It is important to note that as the process evolves, the premise is still here.
