In 2010, Haitian photographer Daniel
Morel’s rights were infringed upon when major companies such as NYTImes.com,
Washington Post, ABC, CBS and various other media based organizations used
images he took of the earthquake in Haiti without his permission for news
broadcasting purposes. Hours after the Earthquake Morel updated his images of
the damages on TwitPic, a website designed in connection to twitter for
uploading and sharing images. Shortly after his post, a different user who
claimed they were his, reposted his images. Preceding this post the Agence
France Presse and Getty Images distributed the photos to various clients
internationally. Days after this infringement, a Manhattan jury found that both
companies had “willfully infringed upon Mr. Morel’s copyright of eight pictures
he took of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and awarded him $1.22 million.” Not only
had these companies infringed upon his copyright by using his images, but they
had sold the images as prints as well. In retort to Morel’s lawsuit, Agence
France Presse responded with the idea that the agency had not infringed upon
his copyright and that instead he was interfering with its business practices.
This response was overruled. Mickey Osterreicher, the general counsel to the
National Press Photographer’s Association stated, “Like anything of value,
people need to ask permission, give credit and pay fair compensation for those
images, and when they don’t, photographers need to be able to stand up for
their rights.” Morel states when asked
why he continued to demand his rights, even against such massive multi- billion
dollar media industries “Someone had to fight for photographers.” Later
Osterreicher added “This ruling is important because far too often we find that
photographers don’t have the power to stand up to those that infringe with
impunity. I hope that this sends a message, but in reality we need a cultural
change so that once again photographs are valued.”
