Polyvore is a website that lets you mix and match online images to make fashion sets and collages. While it has received favour from Web 2.0 pundits, fashion bloggers, and major craft blogs, it has also drawn massive ire from artists that claim copyright infringement and use of personal photos. The anti-Polyvore pressure mainly comes from Etsy sellers, with some support from artists on DeviantArt, Red Buddle, and independent artists - all coming together on Flickr. We Heart It and Ffffound! are also seen as suspect. While Polyvore tries to assuage copyright fears, amidst growing pressure to shut down, many of Polyvore's current users are counter-petitioning for the site to stay.
posted by divabat on Jan 10, 2009 - 16 comments

They stole an image of my son and just had to pay $4000. About a year ago I was surprised when I saw an image of my son in an ad for a shop called “Vinderen Elektriske”, selling electronics.
posted by Ljubljana on Oct 9, 2007 - 73 comments

Can photographers be plagarists?
posted by Meatbomb on Feb 8, 2007 - 60 comments

Chicago's current archetectual and artistic showcase, Millenium Park seems to be causing some problems. The pedestrian bridge was closed because the hardwood used to build it can not take the salt used to remove ice from pedestrian walkways. But it also seems that the massive sculpture Cloud Gate aka "The Bean" is a copyright elephant in public space. Park security are shaking down photographers for permits. As is typical, the copyright shakedown appears to be less about protecting the rights of the original artists, and more about the rights of the distributor (in this case, the city's desired monopoly on postcards and prints). See boing boing for editorializing and Slashdot for the typical herd reaction.
posted by KirkJobSluder on Feb 12, 2005 - 22 comments

Copyright to the Revolution (translation): "On Wednesday, 9 July 2003, the superior court of Paris banned a poster campaign launched by the group Reporters Without Borders to protest the totalitarian policies of Cuba. This campaign, designed by the agency Rampazzo & Associates, was built around an iconic image of Ernesto Che Guevara, inspired by the original image by the Cuban photographer [Alberto] Korda. The decision came in a suit brought by Diane Diaz Lopez, the late photographer's daughter, accusing the organization of misappropriating the original image taken by her father." The poster reads: "Welcome to Cuba, the world's largest prison for journalists." Korda had sued in 2000 to prevent use of the image in an Absolut vodka campaign. An article at Uzine (French) shows how the image in question was composited.
posted by hairyeyeball on Jul 16, 2003 - 25 comments

Kelly vs. Arriba (PDF) Arriba search engine has been determined to be infringing on the copyright of photographer Leslie Kelly. The reason? Arriba displays thumbnails of copyrighted images in their search results, and displays the original page in a frameset. What kind of precedent will this set for Google and the rest of the web?
posted by johnjreeve on Feb 11, 2002 - 17 comments

Uncle Bill's other hobby is collecting the digital rights to millions of images that basically make up a large chunk of the visual history of humanity. Gates, via Corbis, Adobe and others are charging themselves with bringing digital imaging to the people. The best snippet: 'In addition to the delectable link sausages served at breakfast, Mr. Gate's keynote speech spiced up an otherwise bland show.'
posted by grant on Nov 18, 1999 - 2 comments