Photographer Sues Getty Images For $1B

Professional photographer Carol Highsmith has dedicated years of work to the Library of Congress, making a wide variety of images freely available to the public. In December, however, a firm associated with photo licensing agency Getty Images sent her a letter accusing her of license infringement for posting one of her own photos online. The firm demanded $120 from her nonprofit foundation, and threatened to take her to court. Highsmith filed a lawsuit last week, accusing Getty of illegally claiming rights to 18,755 of her images. She is asking for more than $1 billion in damages. Getty “misrepresents the terms and conditions of using the Highsmith Photos by falsely claiming a user must buy a copyright license from Getty,” the lawsuit states. Numerous publications have been found to have used Highsmith photos with credit to Getty. The stock photo firm has not credited Highsmith as sole creator or copyright owner of those images, nor did it voluntarily inform clients that those same photographs are available for free online. Getty said the lawsuit is “based on a number of misconceptions,” and that it plans to “defend [itself] vigorously.”