Is Copyright Benefiting Image Creators?

Posted on 11/11/2014 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (2)

A couple weeks ago I was talking with a well known picture researcher. He said, “I wish all these copyright cases were over!” He pointed out that every time someone files a copyright suit he gets a new list of people whose images he can’t use when searching for images for a new project. Is there some way to protect your rights and still license a reasonable number of new images?

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Copyright © 2014 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.

Comments

Spencer Grant Posted Nov 11, 2014
I've heard tales of [unnamed] photographers suing publishers over unpaid use of their work and collecting -- here's the very figure -- $600,000. This sounds very dubious but I've been wrong before. True or false?

-- Spencer Grant

Tom Zimberoff Posted Nov 15, 2014
"Is Copyright Benefiting Image Creators?" The answer is a resounding YES.

"He said, 'I wish all these copyright cases were over!'" He pointed out that every time someone files a copyright suit he gets a new list of people whose images he can’t use when searching for images for a new project." Ultimately, that will come back to bite him and his asshole/ignoramus employer.

There is, perhaps, legal action to be taken against such black-balling itself. I'm no lawyer, but maybe a case for tortious interference can be made in such instances. Irrespective, those who don't infringe (i.e., steal) don't get sued. That's easy to point out as often as it needs to be. Infringers only become a problem when creators act like pussies and don't do anything to stop them.

In the long run, the bloggers, shopkeepers, and freelancers purloining crowdsourced pictures to fill up their Web sites are relatively inconsequential to all of the $11 billion businesses pay each year to license pictures legitimately. The question is one of creating a business model that better serves creators and publishers treating them equally as customers; economically sustainable for sellers and qualitatively sustainable for publishers. That is the future. That's what new applications of technology can and will for the industry.

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