On Saturday the Associated Press issued a “photo elimination” of Andy Duann’s falling bear pictures, advising its members to “eliminate from your systems and archives” AP’s “Campus bear” photos shot by Andy Duann and credited to the CU Independent, the student publication of the University of Colorado Boulder, where Duann is a student
“I’ve personally apologized to [student photographer] Andy Duann for the mistaken assumption that the CU Independent owned the copyright to the falling bear photo, and the resulting controversy that ensued. At Andy’s suggestion, we’re working on a new policy that will assign use of content to the CU Independent but allow content producers to retain the copyrights to their material.”
Last week, Asakawa contacted the Boulder Daily Camera, which had agreed to pay Duann $250 to use the photo, and insisted CU Independent be credited; the Camera does not pay for photos from other news organizations, so City Editor Matt Sebastian agreed with Asakawa to run the photo with a courtesy credit and not pay Duann
“They did not pay me even a penny,” he said. Duann, 22, is a native of Taiwan who’s been in the United States for five years. He’s about to graduate with a degree in electrical engineering; photography is his hobby and passion. “We did not sign any contract,” Duann said.
