Following is cut and paste from an email I just received from ASMP.PHOTOGRAPHERS FILE CLASS ACTION AGAINST GOOGLEWednesday, April 7, 2010 2:12 PM
From: "Susan Carr" <
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[email protected] FILE CLASS ACTION AGAINST GOOGLE
Philadelphia, PAThe American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP),
joined by the Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of
America, the North American Nature Photography Association,
Professional Photographers of America, photographers Leif Skoogfors,
Al Satterwhite, Morton Beebe, Ed Kashi and illustrators John Schmelzer
and Simms Taback, has filed a class action copyright infringement suit
against Google, Inc. in the U.S. District for the Southern District of
New York. The suit, which was filed by Mishcon de Reya New York LLP,
relates to Googles illegal scanning of millions of books and other
publications containing copyrighted images and displaying them to the
public without regard to the rights of the visual creators. ASMP and
the other trade associations, representing thousands of members,
decided to file the class action after the Court denied their request
to join the currently pending $125 million class action that had
previously been filed primarily on behalf of text authors in
connection with the Google Library Project. The new class action goes
beyond Googles Library Project, and includes Googles other
systematic and pervasive infringements of the rights of photographers,
illustrators and other visual artists.
This action by ASMP and its sister organizations was taken in order to
protect the interests of owners of copyrights in visual works from the
massive and organized copying and public display of their images
without regard to their contributions and rights to fair
compensation. According to ASMP Executive Director Eugene Mopsik,
Through this suit, we are fulfilling the missions of our
organizations and standing up for the rights of photographers and
other visual artists who have been excluded from the process up to
now. We strongly believe that our members and those of other
organizations, whose livelihoods are significantly and negatively
impacted, deserve to have representation in this landmark issue.
ASMP General Counsel Victor Perlman said, We are seeking justice and
fair compensation for visual artists whose work appears in the twelve
million books and other publications Google has illegally scanned to
date. In doing so, we are giving voice to thousands of
disenfranchised creators of visual artworks whose rights we hope to
enforce through this class action.
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Susan Carr
Education Director
The American Society of Media Photographers