While copyright infringement lawsuits are an ever-present part of the photography business, much recent litigation has been directed at search engines. Content owners, including Viacom, Universal and Perfect 10, are alleging that a number of Web 2.0 companies have committed various offenses, ranging from direct infringement to facilitating content misappropriation by others. Now industry groups are actively weighing in.
PicScout, which has offices in San Francisco and Herzeliya, Israel, has expanded its copyright-monitoring service to include Australia. The Israeli company services the Big Three stock agencies and smaller, specialty agencies alike.
Getty Images has launched a business-to-business affiliate program, which will allow Web site owners to earn commissions by pointing traffic to gettyimages.com. The company hired LinkConnector, an affiliate-marketing company based in Cary, N.C., to manage the program.
AOL has launched a new version of Truveo.com, an online video search engine for professional-caliber and user-generated video. According to AOL, users prefer them to user-generated content.
Hollywood is going green - on screen. "The 11th Hour," a feature-length documentary that premieres in Los Angeles and New York on August 17, explores industrial civilization's impact on our ecosystems. To reduce the carbon footprint of its production, the film used 300 stock-footage clips. Using stock was among a number of environmentally friendly measures.