Do News Organizations Respect Copyright?

Posted on 5/29/2018 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

In 2016 a massive flash flood raced down the main street of Ellicott City, Maryland. It was called a “thousand-year flood” given the unique characteristics that set it in motion. On May 27, 2018 the flow that supposed to only occur once every 1,000 years struck again.

This time photographer Max Robinson was trapped in an apartment building near Main St. and Maryland Ave and started documenting what was transpiring on his Twitter feed.

Robinson is social media coordinator for Howard County Recreation and Parks, a contributing journalist to the Baltimore Beat, and no stranger to social media norms and intellectual property rights.



Fox News Network contacted Robinson and requested permission to use his footage for credit only on “Fox News Network, LLC & Fox News Edge affiliates use on all platforms.” He responded with a quick, terse NO.

But, Fox News went ahead and used his content anyway. See the story and view the footage on Photoshelter.com.



Robinson has a strong legal case for copyright infringement, but the case is likely that it will drag out in the courts for a long time with the bulk of the settlement going to the lawyers.

In the meantime Max Robinson has set up a GoFundMe account to assist his mother and sister recover from flood damage.

Other legal cases photographers should know about.



UPDATE


Take a look at the PetaPixel update.

I turns out that Robinson did give Associated Press permission to use his footage. As a subscriber to AP, Fox News had the right to use the footage. Fox News also credited APTN as the source for the footage in all their news reports for the rest of the weekend.

Consequently, it looks like Robinson has no claim or chance of recovery.

If you're trying to control your rights know what you are giving away.


Copyright © 2018 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.  

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