Small Photo Credit Removal May Result in Big Damages
“Omitting a small print photo credit can get you in big trouble under the copyright laws,” writes Jim Burger, Justin Mulligan, Mike Nepple, Michael Parks and Mark Sableman in Thompson Coburn’s Insights.
“That’s what happened recently when a court affirmed an award of almost $74,000 against BuzzFeed, because its reporter had copied a photo from the New York Post website and removed the photographer’s name.”
“Gregory Mango, the plaintiff, had authorized the New York Post’s use of his photo, and the Post provided the usual small print photo credit line (known as “gutter credit”) to him. A few months later, a BuzzFeed reporter copied Mango’s photo from the Post website and used it in a BuzzFeed article about the person depicted in the photo. BuzzFeed replaced the photo credit to Mango with the name of the law firm that represented the person depicted.”
