A California jury has awarded a photographer reportedly the ‘largest maximum statutory damages verdict for photography infringement in U.S. history,’ according to the photographer’s lawyer tied to an Intellectual Property (IP) case.
image for illustration
Aeonlaw writes:
….The jury awarded $150,000 in statutory damages for each of the 43 infringed images, for a total of $6.3 million.
As Architectural Photography Almanac notes,
‘…. The penalty for a willful infringement of a timely-registered image ranges from $30,000 to $150,000 each. Clearly, the jury intended to send a very clear message with this verdict….’
Although works of authorship (including photos) are automatically protected by copyright law… works must be registered….before the owner can sue….
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The case is an important reminder..:
- Copyright registration can convey significant financial benefits…
- Companies are very unwise to use images or other content without a copyright license…
- AI technology is making it much harder… to ‘get away with it.’
