According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox News has confidentially settled its 9/11 photo social media lawsuit. The case commenced soon after September 11, 2013 because Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine" posted on Facebook the iconic photo of three firefighters raising the American flag at the ruins of the World Trade Center without obtaining permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright issues are becoming more challenging in the Social Media Age. However, its important to read and understand the terms of service and privacy policy of each platform. For example, when utilizing Facebook, "you grant us [Facebook] a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable,
royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on
or in connection with Facebook (IP License). Since I don't like these terms I don't post personal photos to my Facebook account.
News organizations must be very careful about monetizing the photographs they see online without obtaining a proper license. For example, in 2013 a jury awarded a photojournalist $1.2 million dollars after Agence France-Presse and Getty Images (and others) utilized photos he posted on Twitter regarding the 2010 Haiti earthquake without obtaining the proper licenses from him.
The bottom line is that when posting and re-posting content online it is important to understand copyright law issues.
Copyright 2015 by The Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC All rights reserved.
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