In what has been hailed by the photography industry as a “landmark decision”, District Judge Alison Nathan, sitting in the US District Court of New York, has held that it is an infringement of copyright to use someone else’s photos which have been posted on Twitter.

Photojournalist Daniel Morel took several photographs of the earthquake which shook Haiti in 2010 which he posted to Twitter, saying that they were for sale. Note that at the time Twitter’s Terms of Service made it clear that users retained copyright in their content, and indeed the Terms of Service today say: “You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services” (though you do grant Twitter a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to that content).

Morel’s photographs were subsequently copied by an individual living in the Dominican Republic, who then sold them to Agence France-Presse (AFP), who then shared them with Getty images. David Morel received no attribution or remuneration for the subsequent use by many media organisations worldwide.
continue reading »