Photographer sues Getty for One Billion Dollars for Copyright Infringement

[limr]

limr. excellent work looking into this!

I do loooove me some research! Plus, and I hate to brag, but I DID get an A in my "Intellectual Property Law for Paralegals" course

LOL - my wife actually has a degree in paralegal studies. But refuses to help with any IP research because it's so complicated. Plus she doesn't have a current password for West or Lexisnexus.

Oh, it's a total cluster**** and almost as bad as the tax code. And that's even without the complication of state vs federal law. At least IP is federal only and consistent throughout the country. I enjoyed it but what turned me off is the heavy interaction with contract law. Contracts was my least favorite class of my certificate program. CrimLaw was my favorite.

Yeah, I really miss access to WestLaw!

 

[jcdeboever]

I'm working hard at getting my images stolen.

I have a copy of your images.
Do you want to buy them from me as no one else is interested ?
LOL

Ummm, you do remember I have 150lbs on you.... don't make me come down to the burbs and slap you....[emoji12]

 

[unpopular]

limr. excellent work looking into this!

I do loooove me some research! Plus, and I hate to brag, but I DID get an A in my "Intellectual Property Law for Paralegals" course

LOL - my wife actually has a degree in paralegal studies. But refuses to help with any IP research because it's so complicated. Plus she doesn't have a current password for West or Lexisnexus.

Oh, it's a total cluster**** and almost as bad as the tax code. And that's even without the complication of state vs federal law. At least IP is federal only and consistent throughout the country. I enjoyed it but what turned me off is the heavy interaction with contract law. Contracts was my least favorite class of my certificate program. CrimLaw was my favorite.

Yeah, I really miss access to WestLaw!

Laura liked litigation and family law in particular. She was didn't mind contract law, but her program was a two year associates degree. I cannot really imagine doing Paralegal in an accelerated format. There's a lot that gets covered.

 

[KmH]

To clear some things up ...... (all quotes per the public record law suit: Case 1:16-cv-05924-JSR https)
www.scribd.com/document/319553374/Gov-Uscourts-Nysd-460787-1-0#download

Highsmith is seeking judgement based on the portion of US copyright law known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) - 17 U.S.C. §§1202(a), 1202(b) and 1203 - False Assertion of Copyright.
Highsmith is seeking relief from Getty Images because she claims Getty Images is ". . . falsely and fraudulently holding themselves out as the exclusive copyright owner (or agents thereof), and threatening individuals and companies with copyright infringement lawsuits that the Defendants could not actually lawfully pursue. . . "
Highsmith is not claiming copyright infringement.

The DMCA's maximum award is $25,000, which is where the $25,000 per image comes from. The DMCA's minimum award is $2500 per image, not the $200 minimum available for copyright infringement.
". . . Defendants’ violations of 17 U.S.C. § 1202 entitle Ms. Highsmith to recover, among other things, and if she so elects as provided in 17 U.S.C. § 1203(c)(3)(B), an award of statutory damages for each violation of section 1202 in the sum of not less than $2,500 or more than $25,000. . . ”

Highsmith is not only suing Getty Images, she is also suing PicScout, License Compliance Services (Carlyle Group owns PicScout, Getty Images, & LCS), Alamy, and 1 to 100 "John Does" . . . unidentified parties acting in active concert or participation with the named Defendants. . . "

 

[Gary A.]

Ooooh, interesting! Note on the complaint provided on the PetaPixel site that a jury trial is demanded. Not sure how binding that is, but it's interesting for sure. She doesn't want it left solely in the hands of a judge.

That is very interesting, because usually/often one is better off with a judge with complex/specialty law issues. When I went to trial on 'press' issues, my attorneys highly recommended a judge over a jury becuase a jury would have a hard time understanding press privileges.

 

[KmH]

Here is an interesting item:
"PLAINTIFF’S ORIGINAL COMPLAINT PAGE 17 OF 38
85.
Additionally, the letter that Ms. Highsmith received on December 14, 2015, (my emphasis) was sent before License Compliance Services, Inc. was organized under the laws of the State of Washington, which occurred in March 2016."

Gov-Uscourts-Nysd-460787-1-0

 

[Gary A.]

To clear some things up ...... (all quotes per the public record law suit: Case 1:16-cv-05924-JSR https)
www.scribd.com/document/319553374/Gov-Uscourts-Nysd-460787-1-0#download

Highsmith is seeking judgement based on the portion of US copyright law known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) - 17 U.S.C. §§1202(a), 1202(b) and 1203 - False Assertion of Copyright.
Highsmith is seeking relief from Getty Images because she claims Getty Images is ". . . falsely and fraudulently holding themselves out as the exclusive copyright owner (or agents thereof), and threatening individuals and companies with copyright infringement lawsuits that the Defendants could not actually lawfully pursue. . . "
Highsmith is not claiming copyright infringement.

The DMCA's maximum award is $25,000, which is where the $25,000 per image comes from. The DMCA's minimum award is $2500 per image, not the $200 minimum available for copyright infringement.
". . . Defendants’ violations of 17 U.S.C. § 1202 entitle Ms. Highsmith to recover, among other things, and if she so elects as provided in 17 U.S.C. § 1203(c)(3)(B), an award of statutory damages for each violation of section 1202 in the sum of not less than $2,500 or more than $25,000. . . ”

Highsmith is not only suing Getty Images, she is also suing PicScout, License Compliance Services (Carlyle Group owns PicScout, Getty Images, & LCS), Alamy, and 1 to 100 "John Does" . . . unidentified parties acting in active concert or participation with the named Defendants. . . "

Good for her! (Thank you Keith for the additional clarifications.)

 

[astroNikon]

Sounds like Getty started a "collections agency" branch of the company to try and stiffarm people to give them money based on perceived copyrights, etc. for an additional revenue stream.
Maybe they should also research who they send those letter to first.
Sounds like fun.

 

[Solarflare]

Maybe they should first research if they are actually the copyright holders in the first place.