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ARTICLE · 02 SEPTEMBER 2016

Getty's One Billion Dollar Mistake

Fox Rothschild LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
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This is not the first time that Getty has been sued for copyright infringement.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Margo Arnold
Margo Arnold
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Years ago, photographer Carol Highsmith gifted her photographs to the Library of Congress for its public use. But, as any savvy artist should do, she retained the copyrights to her works.  It then came as a surprise when she later received a letter from a Getty affiliated entity accusing her of copyright infringement for using one of her own photographs.  The letter demanded $120 to settle Highsmith's "breach."

Highsmith did some investigating and learned that Getty had been selling thousands of Highsmith's photographs. The photographs had false watermarks and did not reference Highsmith.  Highsmith turned around and sued Getty for copyright infringement for the 18,755 of her images it is selling on its website.

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