Lopez Sued for Copyright Violation

Photographer Sues Jennifer Lopez For Copyright Infringement

Jennifer Lopez is the latest person to join a growing list of celebrities who find themselves defendants in lawsuits filed by photographers. According to an article on diyphotography.net, Michael Stewart is suing Lopez and her production company for copyright infringement.

The Facts of The Case

Dunja Djudjic reported on diyphotography.net that Stewart is a photographer. As part of his work, he took a photograph of Lopez out walking in New York City. Stewart alleges that he licensed the use of that photo to the Daily Mail which, along with an article, published it to its website dailymail.uk.co on June 29, 2018. Stewart claims that he also registered his copyright with the United States Copyright Office.

Lopez allegedly copied the picture from the Daily Mail and posted it on her Instagram feed. Stewart’s lawsuit states that Lopez did not have permission to use the image and violated copyright law when she published it to Instagram.

Copyright Laws Protect Photographers from Unauthorized Use of Photos

Federal copyright laws are clear. The moment you take a photograph, a copyright exists. Filing a copyright registration is not necessary for a copyright to be enforceable. It merely allows you to pursue additional damages if someone violates your copyright.

A copyright means that you retain control over the use and publication of your photo. No one may use it without your permission or a license agreement. Photographers often issue licenses to publishers. It is how they get paid for their work. The terms of consent can vary. Parties can agree to limited use or unlimited use of a photograph. Conditions can include a fixed fee, no fee, or something in between. A photographer can also give up all rights to a picture. Copyright laws exist to ensure photographers retain control over how their images are used and that they are compensated for their work.

Photographers Can Collect Monetary Damages For Copyright Infringement

Stewart’s lawsuit, if successful, may secure him up to $150,000 in compensation. Lopez is just one of many celebrities facing allegations of Copyright infringement. Gigi Hadid, Bruno Mars, and Rod Stewart are just a few famous faces who have been accused of using pictures of themselves without permission from the photographer.

Contact Us

If you are a photographer of celebrities and your images are being used without your permission, consider filing a copyright infringement lawsuit to collect compensation. You should be paid for your work. Call Sanders Law Group today at 516-233-1660 to enforce your intellectual property rights.

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Photographers Have The Right to Control The Use Of Their Work

If you earn your living as a photographer, it is essential that you be familiar with the laws that govern the rights to your work. Federal copyright law and intellectual property law (IP law) have a profound effect on individuals who create images and content for a living.

Your copyright exists the moment you take a picture. You may file a federal copyright registration, which is helpful should you wind up in litigation. However, your property rights in the photograph exist regardless. The rights to use that image belong to you. Others may not publish your work without your permission.

Copyright infringement occurs when someone uses a photograph created by someone else, without the proper permission or license. It also happens when someone violates the terms of a license agreement.

What Should You Do If Someone Is Using Your Pictures Without A License?

If you are a photographer, and copyright exists the moment you take a picture, what do you do when you suspect someone is violating your copyright by using your photos without or in violation of a license? In an article on DIYPhotography.net (DIYP), JP Danko interviews a member of Pixsy and offers suggestions to photographers about what to consider when they discover unauthorized use of their pictures.

These suggestions include:

  1. Acting quickly and calmly
  2. Gathering evidence
    1. Take screenshots of any unauthorized use of your image
    2. Be sure to include the URL information
    3. Save and print the page as a PDF
    4. Make sure you save it in a way that records the date and time
    5. Retain all physical evidence such as magazines, newspapers that contain your image
  3. Considering your goal
    1. Do you want the picture taken down or out of circulation?
    2. Do you want compensation for the unauthorized use of your photograph?
    3. Do you want credit for the image?
    4. What do you think is the monetary value of the image?
    5. Are you willing to allow the publisher to continue to use your photograph for the right price?
  4. Speaking to the publisher about the matter and negotiating a resolution on your own.
  5. Contacting the host of a website and asking to take down the image.
  6. Contacting a copyright lawyer who can help you secure a fair outcome that accurately reflects the value of your photographs and your hard work.

Why Hiring a Copyright Lawyer Can Help Photographers?

In DIYP’s Q & A, Pixsy strongly suggests that photographers tend to seriously undervalue their work. Allowing publishers to utilize photos and images for free perpetuates the myth that the work of photographers is easy and their work product is not important. These things are simply untrue. As Pixsy states, “You created a work that is unique using a skill set that you’ve acquired and developed throughout your life. Your work has an inherent value and needs to be treated as such.”

Having a copyright attorney advocating on your behalf takes the photographer and his or her emotions out of the equation. Your IP lawyer can assess your situation and consider factors such as:

  • How did the unauthorized publisher use your image?
  • How many people did it reach?
  • How long did the publisher use your photograph without permission?
  • Was the picture you took used for the publisher’s commercial gain

Being objective, your copyright attorney can evaluate your claim and work toward securing the monetary compensation you genuinely deserve under the law. If you are considering litigating your copyright infringement case or negotiating a fair licensing arrangement, consider consulting experienced copyright lawyers who represent photographers.

Contact Our Copyright Infringement Lawyers at Sanders Law Group

If you are a photographer and have discovered that someone is wrongfully using images you created, contact our copyright lawyers for a free consultation. Please call us at (800) 979-3707 and find out if we can help you protect your intellectual property rights and enforce your copyright.

The New York Times Seeks To Take Total Control Over Photographs

A PDN pulse report claims that photographers have organized a protest against the revised contract that the New York Times (NYT) is demanding they sign. As of June 13, 2018, 137 photographers signed a petition and presented it to the Times urging them to reconsider the terms of the contract. The NYT as of the end of June had not responded.

At this time, it remains unclear how the issues between contributors and the newspaper will be resolved. The situation, however, is a good reminder that photographers are engaged in a constant battle to protect their rights to their images.

Federal Copyright Laws Protect Photographers And Their Hard Work

Federal copyright law exists to allow photographers to maintain control over their work. When you are hired to take pictures on assignment, as a freelancer, for a publisher, you may have an agreement dictating the compensation, licensing, copyright, and use of your photographs. The terms of the agreement are up to you and the publisher.

Proposed NYT Contract Demands Photographers Give Up Copyright

According to David Walker, the writer of the report, the contract specifies that the NYT “will own all right, title and interest, including copyright, in the work for all purposes throughout the world.” Work, according to the contract, is all videotapes, still photographs, and logs that result from the assignment.

Danielle Rhoades Ha is the spokesperson for the Times, and she claims that in the new contract for photographers, the only change applies to photographs taken by drones. However, the terms of the deal, according to Walker, contradict this.

One copyright attorney explained in a letter to the protesters that because the new contract is a “work-for-hire agreement, it provides The New York Times with exclusive ownership of copyright to all assignment work. Previous agreements provided for copyright co-ownership of assignment work between the Times and its contributors. That gave photographers the right to re-license their work to other clients, and the right to defend their copyrights against infringement–rights they wouldn’t have under the new agreement, if they sign it.”

The attorney also points to another clause in the contract which would, if signed, allow the Times to unilaterally and without any reason, declare the photographs of a freelancer or employee on assignment, to be unacceptable. The Times would then have no obligation to pay the freelancer.

New York Times Puts Photographers’ Rights In Jeopardy

The contributors to the Times are being asked to forfeit their rights to the photographs they take. While any individual is free to enter into the contract, the organizers are trying hard to find strength in numbers with the hopes that the Times will see the error of its ways.

Federal copyright laws exist to give photographers control over the use of their work. When a publisher as large and powerful as the NYT seeks to erode the rights of individual freelance photographers, it puts these hardworking professionals in a difficult position: give up the rights to my pictures or be unable to work? It is a difficult choice to make.

Contact Our Copyright Lawyers For Help Protecting Your Rights

Sanders Law Group, represents photographers worldwide in all stages of copyright cases:

  • Negotiating license agreements
  • Filing copyright registration
  • Filing copyright infringement lawsuits
  • Enforcing license agreements

Call our copyright attorneys today at (800) 979-3707 for a free evaluation of your copyright violation case.

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Esquire.com Copyright Violation Over Donald Trump Wedding Crasher Photo

Donald Trump, Wedding Crasher, Ends Up Being Bad Copyright News for Esquire.com

As was reported by Hollywood Reporter, a photograph of President Donald Trump crashing a wedding hosted at his golf course went viral. Several media outlets used this image, which was subject to copyright protection in favor of the photographer.

The photographer sued, and the court held “Stealing a copyrighted photograph to illustrate a news article, without adding new understanding or meaning to the work, does not transform its purpose — regardless of whether that photograph was created for commercial or personal use.”

The court disagreed with their defense that the photo was for personal, not commercial use, and that it was used for news. Further, the amateur photographer “did have an interest in entering the market upon realizing the value of his work,” states the order. “The creator of a work should not be precluded from future profits should they lack the marketing prowess to capitalize on their work at the time of creation. Otto’s status as an amateur photographer with an iPhone does not limit his right to engage in sales of his work.”

For more details, see: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/donald-trump-wedding-crasher-ends-up-being-bad-copyright-news-esquirecom-1168399

Copyright in the Digital Age

The digital age has ushered in an explosion in creative collaboration, not the least of which is made possible by various social media platforms. For creators and consumers alike, the ability to share, engage and experiment with this elastic, new medium has created as many opportunities as challenges. Among the challenges facing the professional creative community is the notion that all rights are suspended once social media cannibalizes content. It is a widely held, if mistaken, belief that copyright law does not reach popular platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and the like.

The misconception stems from the belief that participating in these online platforms is akin to signing away one’s rights. Additionally, many view the voracity with which social media platforms have conquered the public sphere as tantamount to the days of the wild west, where law’s grinding slowness permits the users to do whatever they want with little or no consequence. The worst part about these mistaken beliefs is not that they are wrong, but that they discourage creators from fully taking advantage of these innovations in how we communicate. It is our intention to change that impulse to revert, to conserve, to abstain and withdraw – both in our clients and in the creative community at large.

First, let’s be clear: the Copyright Act extends to social media platforms. In fact, it rewards and encourages the same kind of sentiment – to share, to create, and to engage. While being vigilant is always wise, hoarding your work, whether in your desk drawer or on your laptop, has never been encouraged by U.S. Copyright Laws. The laws aim to foster an environment where creators readily share work because they feel confident that it will be protected and infringers will be adequately punished.

Second, don’t be naïve. This may seem at odds with advice heretofore but it bears repeating that no one will care about protecting your work, if you don’t care about protecting your work. Register you work with Copyright Office. If your work is on social media, then it is arguably published for the purposes of the Copyright Act, so register it as such. This matters because the laws encourage putting one’s talent and skill into the marketplace and reward those who have bestowed their gifts onto the world. Be a generous creator and register your works as published!

Third, you are in control. Many of these social media platforms feature privacy settings which are underutilized. If you only want certain people to see your photography, then set your privacy settings accordingly. If you don’t want people to crop, alter, repost or do anything to your image, let your privacy setting reflect those preferences. Think of privacy setting as crafting your own contract with the social media platform to specify the terms of use.

Fourth, don’t assume anything. Social media has allowed many to turn interests and hobbies into promotional empires. Just because it seems like an innocent, if silly, post – doesn’t mean it is not commercial in nature. As companies utilize social media more to market their wares via endorsements, the division between a private individual user and corporate interests becomes blurred.

Fifth, that also applies to you. The most resistance we get is from members of the creative community who refuse to admit that they also have business interests, that work is a commercial endeavor. Beyond registering, add a watermark to your photographs. It is another technological measure to encourage proper licensing. It deters infringement and provides for additional remedies from those undeterred by said measures.

Finally, feel free to engage with the world. The laws are neither too slow nor antiquated to protect your rights as a creator. From the Statute of Anne through its many incarnations, copyright law persists through the advent of new technology, social and political revolution, preferring those who unabashedly strive to create, to offer new aesthetics and to push our horizons. And for those who would undercut our values in copyright – there are always damages.