They Stole My Work

San Francisco-based Ken Light’s photograph of wrongly convicted prisoners used on Current TV’s website for several weeks without his permission and with no due consideration for the fact that the copyright belonged to him. Light then proceeded to take the case to the small claims court and received a compensation of $588 to cover his legal costs and the fee he should have received for use of his work. And there is where you would think the story ends. Alas, Current TV has decided to show its muscle against what it considers a puny opponent and they have raised the matter in an appeal to San Francisco’s Superior Court, showing its willingness to slug it out to bring down Light’s claims, despite the additional costs involved.

Really, if Al Gore’s Current TV wants to play bully on the playground, it should pick someone its own size. And photographers, beware! Your art can quickly turn into murky legal battles if you don’t pre-empt any copyright stealing intentions.

The Times of India is a major English-language daily in India; ToI often claims to be the English newspaper with the largest circulation in the country, if not the world. They are a publication with great clout in the country and an individual can barely imagine taking on a legal battle with such a Goliath. But it seems like Arun Ganesh (PlaneMad on Flickr) has chosen to be the David who stands up for his work. In this photo on Flickr, he points out what he believes to be the proof of ToI’s transgression.His original photograph is here.

‘Thank you for Stealing My Work, Times of India’, says Arun. Wonder what the publication has to say to this allegation!

Here‘s an interesting discussion by someone who raises the question on “Why is it considered by many “OK” to violate copyright?”

Obviously the restaurant failed to check but the person that sold the images to them had stolen them – just by making an unofficial copy and no one seemed to care UNTIL is started to cost them in damages.

Copyright is something nobody seems  to care about until their rights have been infringed upon or someone files for damages – is there really no way to pre-empt violation of copyright and create measures of deterrence before the act of copyright violation? Of course, there are several, but it’s all about the awareness and attitude towards such enabling tools.

Do follow the debate on the forum.