Anyone who has been in the photo business for any length of time knows that Jay Maisel is one of the truly great photographers and a first-class person. His unique vision kept him busy for over 40 years shooting annual reports, magazine covers, jazz albums, advertising and more for clients worldwide until he retired from active commercial work in the late ‘90s.
He has lectured extensively at photography workshops throughout the country and has a reputation as a giving and inspiring teacher. However, recently he has been verbally abused on the Internet and his New York home vandalized because he had the temerity to protect his copyright.
In a
blog post everyone will want to read Jeremy Nicholl lays out the whole story of how Andy Baio used Jay’s image of Miles Davis that was shot for Davis’ famous Kind of Blue record album; Jay sued; they settled out of court. Then there was an explosion of vindictive on the Internet from all the people who think everything should be free that forced him to take down his Facebook page.
You may also want to read Baio’s version under the title “Kind of Screwed” at his site
http://waxy.org and take a look at what the “protectors of free use of everything” did to the
outside of Jay’s home.