When assessing the effectiveness of web sites be careful not to place too much emphasis on ''hit'' and ''visitor'' logs. Photo Stock Notes recently published an article entitled ''Who Are The Heavy Hiters?'' which may mislead photographers. See our analysis.
The U.S. Court of Appeals has overturned the Tasini decision of 1997 and ruled in favor of freelance writers and all copyright holders of creative works. Publisher must now pay for all uses and may not make secondary uses of photographs without clear contractual permission to do so.
Photographers and stock agencies should check their records to determine if they had a usage in Glencoe/McGraw-Hill's 1995 edition of ''Biology: The Dynamics of Life''. There was a 1998 reuse for which no one was paid until recently.
Getty Images, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire The Image Bank from Eastman Kodak Company for $183 million. The cash acquisition is expected to close in December 1999.
Rumors abound on both sides of the Atlantic that Getty has completed a deal to purchase The Image Bank from Kodak. There has been no announcement on Getty's web site and no confirmation from any of the parties.
The lead story is a long analysis of our ''Industry in Turmoil'' and the impact of various changes that are taking place. There are also stories on Understanding Similars, Getty Images, VCG and Corbis.
The stock photo industry is in turmoil. Never has there been so much uncertainty among photographers about the future of the stock industry. This story takes a look at how industry issues -- royalty free, agency consolidation, over supply, pricing, marketing methods, potential for growth in sales to internet users and consumers, agencies wholly owning high demand subject matter and volume production -- impact on one another.
Getty Images continued their slow rise in sales during the second quarter of 1999 with gross revenue of $55 million and overall growth in sales for the quarter about 5.3% over sales in the previous quarter.
Getty Images, Inc. has announced the acquisition of EyeWire, Inc., one of the largest providers of royalty-free photography, video, audio, typefaces, software and other design resources to creative professionals and business users.
Visual Communications Group (VCG) has announced the acquisition of Seattle based Definitive Stock Inc. in an effort to seriously enter the royalty-free market and to bolster their on-line technology expertise.