From Ars Technica:
CBS has sued a photographer for copyright infringement for doing something that’s practically ubiquitous in the news and entertainment business—publishing still images from a television show.
The lawsuit against New York photojournalist Jon Tannen, filed on Friday, is essentially a retaliatory strike. Tannen sued CBS Interactive in February, claiming that the online division of CBS had used two of his photographs without permission. Now, CBS has sued Tannen back, claiming that he “hypocritically” used CBS’ intellectual property “while simultaneously bringing suit against Plaintiff’s sister company, CBS Interactive Inc., claiming it had violated his own copyright.”
“Without any license or authorization from Plaintiff, Defendant has copied and published via social media platforms images copied from the ‘Dooley Surrenders’ episode of GUNSMOKE,” write CBS lawyers.
CBS is asking for $150,000 in damages for willful infringement.
. . . .
The lawsuit is striking, because using still images from television shows online is so commonplace in a variety of contexts and is often considered fair use. Cultural critics and news writers illustrate their writing with such images. So do non-professionals who are commenting or discussing video works on blogs or social media.
. . . .
A CBS spokesperson wouldn’t identify the exact nature of Tannen’s alleged infringement. The company offered only this statement via e-mail: “Matt, Doc, Chester and Miss Kitty are part of the CBS family. Anybody who tries to do them dirt will end up on boot hill.”
. . . .
The legal tiff between Tannen and CBS began earlier this year. In January 2017, the CBS-owned website “247 Sports” published an article titled “Massoud could be the next great one from New York City” about Sofian Massoud, a star football player at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx.
According to Tannen, the article used two of his photographs without permission. Tannen had photographed Massoud on September 20, 2016 and December 7, 2016, publishing both photos on Facebook.
In February, Tannen sued CBS, seeking, seeking $150,000 per work. The article remains up, but Tannen’s photographs have been stripped out.
Link to the rest at Ars Technica
When PG did a lot of litigation, on occasion, he sometimes counseled clients with a potential claim to consider a wide range of factors before filing suit – including those that would not be resolved even with a positive result in the courtroom – that might impact their well-being.
Pyrrhic victories can be worse in both their financial and emotional costs to the victor than unavenged losses.
PG was reminded of an ancient Latin aphorism – Propere age, otiose paenitere, attributed to William Congreve, an English playwright and poet of the 17th-18th century.
The English translation of the Latin is usually rendered, Act in haste, Repent at leisure.
(Congreve also wrote, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, which, as PG considers it, may be related to the first quote under some circumstances.)
The other well-known Congreve quote, “Music has charms to soothe the savage breast,” is probably better known by its infamous misquoted version, “Music has charms to soothe the savage beast.” How delightful it must be to go down in history for something you did not actually write.
How dare he suggest that a big company should actually have to pay for his work. How dare he hide behind ‘fair use’ in using their work without permission or paying for it.
I’d know better which side to cheer for if I knew if he’d first simply sent them a bill and they rejected it before suing, or if they’d offered a smaller settlement before the sue-ball went up.
No real surprise they’re now trying to ‘do unto’ as he did to them – that’s just a legal game step to them.
Technically (which seems like what a lot of this case is) CBS is threatening to kill him. I’m just saying…