Archive for category Stuff you should know

Fool’s Gold – Part 2

And so, the story continues. 4. Does Their Pitch Make Sense? “You keep using that word, I do not think It means what you think it means”.  – says Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) from the classic film, “The Princess Bride”. It is an invaluable phrase to call out someone’s incorrect use of a word, phrase or concept. Use of […]

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What!!?? Lawyer Ads Can Be Misleading!

Masters of the art of deception include magicians, real estate sales people, advertising executives and of course, attorneys.  Ironically, photographers, models and illustrators who work regularly with ad agencies, are often and easily deceived by advertising! One would think that the experience of interacting with Madison Avenue ad men would be an excellent teacher. Wrong. The […]

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Trolls Who Live Under Bridges Upset By Judge’s Comparison

Here’s an example of why even Ed is not a fan of lawyers in general.  You’ll never find him having a beer with an adversary either. In a copyright infringement case brought in the Federal Court in Manhattan – formally The United States District Court for The Southern District of New York, entitled Matthew McDermott […]

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Court Decision On Embedding Images

What follows is our attempt to explain – in plain English – the facts and possible consequences of a case which has received a tremendous amount of attention in the photo, advertising, social media and publishing communities.  We believe that the interest generated by this well-publicized decision is likely disproportionate to the effects, in any, […]

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A Busy Copyright Week

What a busy week in the world of copyright and photographers/artists rights. Where to start? The two of us have both been busy with what we like to call “work” and are just getting around to posting this current stuff. Let’s start with Google Images settling with Getty. Google agreed to remove the “view image” […]

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A Tale of a Search and Settle Company’s TOS

We just read an article by fine art photographer Kalliope Amorphous on her blog titled “A Warning To Photographers And Artists Regarding Image Rights International” It’s a first person account regarding her experience with Image Rights. As we keep saying, read the Terms of Service (TOS) of the various search firms that have been popping […]

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New and Not Improved Copyright Registration Changes Coming

The three words we dread to see on products when we hike to the grocery store to stock up on our favorites, are the words “New and Improved!” (Always with one or two exclamation points). Uh oh. That doesn’t start with a T, but it still spells trouble here in River City. Usually, it’s a […]

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KodakOne and the Zombie Myth

In our numerous copyright lectures, we always discuss copyright myths and “mythconceptions”. There is one myth, that like Dracula, refuses to die. Like a zombie myth, continually rising from the dead. It’s known as “The Poor Man’s Copyright”. That’s where instead of filing your copyright at the Copyright Office in accordance with Federal Law, you […]

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Negotiating and Smiling Faces

(Presented is a reprint of an article we wrote for Photoshop User Magazine a while back and think it still holds up with very useful information for our dear readers.) Since the beginning of mankind, from the early days of the cave dwellers, there have been creative people, who have used their imagination to enlighten […]

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Stay Out Of My Territory – Walter White’s Pizza

Model releases have taken up a lot of real estate, a lot of ink, in our lectures and writings. Location releases, not so much. Many people think they are not needed, as the consent is “obvious” and/or “assumed”. We’re not going to go into that chestnut about the word, assume.  Some think that those who […]

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