I have discovered an article in the New York Time called “Haitian Photographer Wins Major U.S. Copyright Victory” that was written by James Estrin. In his piece, he talks about the history of the law regarding photography’s right and restriction. Then he talks about the copyright case of Haitian photography Daniel Morel who won his case after a long battle of four years fighting over images he had originally sent out via social media. The judge had award he with 1.22 million in fee.
What very interesting to me about this case is that it’s being trailed in Manhattan, New York because the people who is selling the picture in doing so in the American soil. The pictures was taken at the time when earthquake was happening in Haiti. He was mad about this because “not only did these agencies steal the photos, but they were also giving them away.” The image was used by varity source such as NYTimes.com, The Washington Post, ABC, CBS, etc. Mr. Morel who is 62 and is living in Port-au-Prince flow to Manhattan for the court case. It have took as long as four years. He did it “because someone had to fight for photographers.”
The Agence France-Presse had filed suit against Mr. Morel seeking a judgement that they had not infringed upon Mr. Morel copyright and that instead Mr. Morel was interfering with its business practice. http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/haitian-photographer-wins-major-u-s-copyright-victory/?pagewanted=print&pagewanted=print
