Site Faces Lawsuit Over Celebrity Photos: Raises Copyright Questions

By Karla Robinson
October 24, 2012

BuzzFeed posted nine celebrity photos taken by Mavrix Photo without properly compensating the photo company. Now Mavrix is seeking $1.3 million from the viral news site for copyright infringement, representing a popular trend in online media.
“Mavrix appears to be in the business of copyright trolling — scouring the Internet for unauthorized use of its images and threatening anyone who uses them with million dollar lawsuits,” reports GigaOM. “This practice has recently degenerated into lawyers recruiting other lawyers to hunt down a hit list of alleged infringers with a promise to share the bounty.”
“Instead of a simple request to take the image down (which most people would comply with), we get a legal train wreck,” adds the article.
Currently, copyright owners are entitled to seek damages of up to $150,000 for each infringement, a “nuclear option” to deter infringers, the article comments. But the popularity of trolling raises the question of whether copyright law is still functional.
“In an age when images are everywhere… the $150,000 nuclear option seems impractical and unfair except in the most egregious cases,” suggests GigaOM. “A better option would be for Congress to consider crafting some type of small claims court for copyright with graduated penalties for repeat offenders.”

No Comments Yet