Haitian photographer Daniel Morel has received a welcome Christmas present in his ongoing case against Agence France Presse and others. On December 23 New York District Judge William H Pauley quashed an application by AFP and the other defendants to prevent Morel suing for multiple copyright infringements of his work from last January’s Haitian earthquake.
Unless the parties reach a settlement out of court Morel’s claims will go to a full jury trial in the New Year. AFP, Getty Images, CBS Broadcasting and Turner Broadcasting will face claims for copyright infringement and Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations; AFP and Getty will face further claims for contributory infringement and vicarious infringement. With widespread misuse of 13 images alleged damages and legal costs could run into many millions of dollars.
The judgement is a massive blow to lead defendants AFP and Getty, not only because it allows Morel’s claims to proceed to full trial, but because the reasoning behind the ruling comprehensively demolishes the agencies’ defences against those claims. The AFP/Getty defence has always been that Twitter and/or TwitPic’s terms of use permitted the agencies to redistribute the photographer’s material: since the court has comprehensively rejected that argument as a defence to prevent Morel’s claims to proceed, it’s highly unlikely that the jury trial will accept any attempt to use the same defence against the claims themselves.
Essentially the defendants’ best option now is the same as it always was: quietly admit guilt and settle out of court on the best terms offered. Their problem is that they already tried that before the recent ruling and were rebuffed, so there’s no obvious reason why Morel should offer them a deal in their now severely weakened state. On the contrary Morel’s incentive is to go for the jugular, a favourable outcome in court when the claims are heard and maximum damages.
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Unless the parties reach a settlement out of court Morel’s claims will go to a full jury trial in the New Year. AFP, Getty Images, CBS Broadcasting and Turner Broadcasting will face claims for copyright infringement and Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations; AFP and Getty will face further claims for contributory infringement and vicarious infringement. With widespread misuse of 13 images alleged damages and legal costs could run into many millions of dollars.
The judgement is a massive blow to lead defendants AFP and Getty, not only because it allows Morel’s claims to proceed to full trial, but because the reasoning behind the ruling comprehensively demolishes the agencies’ defences against those claims. The AFP/Getty defence has always been that Twitter and/or TwitPic’s terms of use permitted the agencies to redistribute the photographer’s material: since the court has comprehensively rejected that argument as a defence to prevent Morel’s claims to proceed, it’s highly unlikely that the jury trial will accept any attempt to use the same defence against the claims themselves.
Essentially the defendants’ best option now is the same as it always was: quietly admit guilt and settle out of court on the best terms offered. Their problem is that they already tried that before the recent ruling and were rebuffed, so there’s no obvious reason why Morel should offer them a deal in their now severely weakened state. On the contrary Morel’s incentive is to go for the jugular, a favourable outcome in court when the claims are heard and maximum damages.
Lire la suite...
Revenir au début de l'affaire...
