Photographer Files $1 Billion Suit Against Getty for Licensing Her Public Domain Images

Photographer Files $1 Billion Suit Against Getty for Licensing Her Public Domain Images [UPDATED] - Hyperallergic:

Wow. Getty was selling public domain photos to everyone, including the photog herself.

Getty was notifying people with the images that they must pay money to keep using them (on their own web sites, etc.). So the copyright owner, Carol Highsmith, gets a $120 bill for using her own picture on her own web site.

Highsmith had donated the pictures to the library of congress for use by the general public at no charge.

Getty says, no, we were simply providing a service by selling these photos to people.

You say "potato", I say "Stolen Tomato".

Oh, by the way,

Highsmith is a really, really good photographer.

'via Blog this'

Studio must consider fair use before taking down video, court rules - Fortune

Studio must consider fair use before taking down video, court rules - Fortune:

This is a big win for those people who would like to use copyrighted materials in any way they want.

Simply wind up your baby to copyrighted muzak and press <record>.


Of course it probably does no great publicity to Prince to have law suits against babies at play with his music.


The unanimous vote to allow the mom to use the prince music centers around fair use.

Here's the key quote from this article:

Fair use, as the court made clear, is an independent right that permits people to use copyrighted material in certain situations such as parody or news reporting. Under the law, there is a four-part test for fair use but, for practical purposes, the deciding factors are usually whether the new work is transformative and if it will impact the market for the original work.

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Intellectual Property Counterfeiting- more than an Ownership Problem

IP counterfeiting doesn't get alot of press these days and hasn't for decades, but, this article definitely needs reading.  Here is the link:IP Counterfeiting

Yet another in a growing list of situations in which crime appears to pay- or, it is clearly worth the risks involved.
IP owners have another aspect of commercialization that must be continually addressed on a corporate level.

Strong Copyright Law supports journalism and more

This is a great editorial by Caroline Little (June 8, 2014) on the value of good journalism and the part that IP law plays in supporting good journalism:
TBO: news-opinion-commentary/strong-copyright-law-supports-journalism-and-informs-communities
We totally agree.
The parallel problem is with pirating, knock off, and just plain duplication. It Is hard to make money on something, when most of the copies sold are illegal sourced or counterfeit.
The additional problem, now, is that everyone has a license to write, the solo publisher and the blog journalist.
There needs to be protection for the people who do the real work and the real research.
There also needs to be accountability for everybody, those who generate content and those who perpetuate it.
Ideally, there needs to be ways to "call out" those who would borrow and steal the works of others.

SustUcation: Education eZine on Innovation, Sustainability and Competitive Advantages: To Cheat or not to Cheat... The China Syndrome.

SustUcation: Education eZine on Innovation, Sustainability and Competitive Advantages: To Cheat or not to Cheat... The China Syndrome.: So there's a BIG to do about cheating in china. WOW, what's the chance. Here's a fun video... China uncensored. http://www.yo...