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Getty Images, one of the largest providers of commercial stock photos, is now facing a $1 Billion dollar (US) copyright infringement lawsuit after being caught selling a photographer's work without permission.
According to the story at art and culture web site Hyperallergic.com:
In December, documentary photographer Carol Highsmith received a letter from Getty Images accusing her of copyright infringement for featuring one of her own photographs on her own website. It demanded payment of $120. This was how Highsmith came to learn that stock photo agencies Getty and Alamy had been sending similar threat letters and charging fees to users of her images, which she had donated to the Library of Congress for use by the general public at no charge.
Highsmith has filed a $1 billion copyright infringement suit against both Alamy and Getty for "gross misuse" of 18,755 of her photographs.
Incidentally, while you're at Hyperallergic.com, be sure to check out From a Pineapple to a Six-Pack, 23 Buildings that Resemble the Things They Sell.
The legal complaint is available on Document Cloud.
Also covered at: Ars Technica .
(Score: 1) by Francis on Friday July 29 2016, @06:54PM
In this case, the figure is probably fair. Getty sent her a bill for $120 for the use of her own photo and there were tens of thousands of images. I doubt she'll be awarded that much, but juries usually don't award more than what you ask for. And also consider that Getty wasn't asking for the $120 for an exclusive license, so they could be potentially getting it 3 or 4 times for any given image.
Most likely, they'll settle it for a fraction of that.