Photo Copyright Case -- BNA's Internet Law News (ILN) - 2/7/02

[donald_brewster]

From BNA's Internet Law News (ILN) - 2/7/02

 

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9TH CIRCUIT OVERTURNS PART OF KELLY V. ARRIBA DECISION

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has held that an

Internet search engine named Arriba (now Ditto.com)

infringed a professional photographer's copyright by

displaying full-sized images of his work through inline

linking. The court found that small, low-quality thumbnail

images were covered by the "fair use" provision of the

Copyright Act, but reversed a lower court opinion, which

found that displays of larger high-quality images were also

protected. Decision at

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0055521P.pdf

Coverage at

http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/078264.htm

[rob_pietri3]

Thanks for posting that decision. I would think that all who have web

sites and jpg files find this very distrubing. I would think that any

unauthorized use of an image would be unlawful, no matter how, where

or even a low quality thumbnail. If someone else is benefiting,

profiting from your image, they should pay, no matter what it is!

 

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I know what I am going to do on my legal notice on my website, is to

include unauthorized linking to any part of my web site images etc.

Not that I have a problem, at least none that I know of. Also make

sure that image files are small enough so any downloading would be of

very low quality. Watermarks would also help.

[myco_megasoid]

The most important thing for all of us to do is to REGISTER

YOUR © ON IMAGES. Yes, you do technically own the © at the

moment of creation of the image, but if there is an infringement,

the best you can get is value of actual damages.

 

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If you have a Registered © with the Library of Congress, Bureau

of ©, an infringement can get you $150K in statutory fines, not to

mention criminal prosecution of the infringers.

 

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I've been registering © since 1982, and have forced $150K out of

2 infringers [cosmetics industry] without ever going to court when

the infringements were discovered. Discovered by luck, as it

turns out--finding infringements in print isn't always easy.

Finding infringements on the web with Digimarc digital

watermarking is easier, though not guaranteed.

 

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Here's the link to register

 

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http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/

 

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I send in JPG's on a CD along with filling out the forms as PDF's

in Adobe Acrobat. I send hard copy of the forms, as well as

putting the PDF files on the CD itself. The JPG's should be

named with .jpg file extensions, and file names should only have

alphabetic and numeric characters along with periods and

hyphens only. This way, they can be opened with a PC or Mac.

 

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I use Mitsui Gold CD-R media for this, as it's the most archival.

Burning CD's at a slow 2X is also the optimum archival speed. I

use a Mitsui CD marker on the top surface to identify the CD and

my contact info, which with a URL and domain name e-mail

address and 888 phone number are "essentially permanent".

 

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REGISTER YOUR ©'s DO IT NOW!!!! Let's take the money

away from the infringers!

 

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Myco

http://www.megasoidstudios.com

[annoyed]

"I know what I am going to do on my legal notice on my website, is to

include unauthorized linking to any part of my web site images etc"

 

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Um, THE WEB IS ALL ABOUT LINKING any place on the web that you want.

Frankly, if you feel differently, password protect your website or

TAKE YOUR WEB PAGES DOWN.

[dan_smith]

Well, glad Annoyed is annoyed that someone doesn't like being linked

to just anyone. With his attitude few will want to be linked to

him/it. One should be able to choose who they will allow to link with

their images. After all, if Father Fondle links his NAMBLA webpage to

your images of young little league baseball or soccer players this

could spell disaster for you.

As the ownere of the images you should be able to stay away from any

site you don't want to link with your images. No matter what those

old farts on the bench say, displaying images without permission is

stealing. Maybe if we all get pictures of their kids, wives & family

& post them on the Arriba or some other similar site they will change

their minds.