In the interests of fairness we post below Corbis’ statement (unedited and in full) on the Court’s decision. Before reading it just note that:
It is important for photographers, illustrators and artists to understand that PACA and stock agencies in general do not represent the interests of individual creators whether they be photographers or illustrators. They understandably represent their own interests. These are the companies who market, license and sell the photographs and works created by others. In so doing they obtain from those creators certain rights the creators foolishly yet willingly give up, to register and pursue copyright infringement actions as they see fit. The Court’s decision is bad for Corbis, PACA and other companies similarly situated.
If however, you register your own work you have nothing to worry about. You couldn’t and wouldn’t even dream of registering your work without putting your own name on your registration. Regardless of how the case turns out, the current shall we say “uncertainty”, results largely from registrations made without the names of the authors/creators attached. This pattern of eliminating photo credits and the identities of shooters is utterly consistent with the decade old trend of eliminating the names of photographers when a stock agency image is used by a publication. Credits like: Sally Smith for AP, Joe Photographer/Corbis, Fred Lens/Getty and so on have given way to simply AP, Corbis and Getty.
The more the agencies eliminate the name(s) of the creators the less important each creator becomes. Make no mistake, the pattern is clear and the techniques connected by a common theme – minimize the name, reputation and bargaining power of individual creators.
Ed & Jack
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Corbis release:
We want to provide information about a legal ruling last week in New York.
The legal decision referenced an industry-wide process by which stock photography companies bulk register photo copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office on behalf of their contributors.
This ruling regarding this bulk registration process was a byproduct of an infringement case between a photographer that Corbis represents, Mr. Muench, and publishing company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. The publishing company is attempting to argue that Mr. Muench’s photographs aren’t properly registered as a way to reduce or limit potential damages against them in an image infringement lawsuit.
While images have copyright protection at the moment they are taken, rights holders who have registered that copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office have additional benefits in the case of image infringement such as certain legal presumptions, awarding of statutory damages rather than actual damages, awarding of attorney fees and others.
As part of a commitment to reduce copyright infringement of images, Corbis and PACA and others in the stock photo industry collaborated with the U.S. Copyright office to develop guidelines to bulk register images on behalf of contributors several years ago. Based on PACA’s and the Copyright Office’s endorsement, many stock photography companies use this process to register their images.
Although the process was approved by the U.S. Copyright Office, the Muench photography vs. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. case said that these bulk registrations do not properly register the images. The court ruled that the registration application must name each author of the work, which the bulk Copyright registration process doesn’t do.
Corbis believes that this decision regarding the bulk registration process is incorrect and that it will be reargued, in which case Corbis will likely file an amicus brief supporting the bulk process.
Corbis recommends that contributors wait to see the outcome of the appeal. Their images still have copyright protection. Corbis can still license images normally and pursue infringement cases, even without the copyright registration.
If the process of bulk copyright is deemed to not work after various appeals, Corbis will handle re-registration, supplementary filing or whatever process the Copyright Office requests to ensure the imagery is properly registered.
It should be noted that since February 2009, based on requests of photographers to make it easier for them to know the specific registrations that applied to them, Corbis has registered all images under the name of contributors, and therefore those registrations are in no way affected by this ruling.
Corbis is actively monitoring the case and will keep our contributors informed of any updates.
Sven Kröncke
Director, Production Management
