Regular readers of this site will be familiar with photographer/blogger Bradley Maule (pictured here right before he freed the slaves), or his website, Phillyskyline.com. Over the last few years, the ‘Skyline has become a kind of online record of present-day architectural happenings in the city; take it with Inga Saffron’s Changing Skyline blog, and you’ve got a great overview. As such, Maule has gotten a lot of access and notoriety in recent times (he was the first person to photograph the Comcast Center in great detail), and Google image searches for things like “Philadelphia” or “Philadelphia skyline” often bring up his photos, often in high resolution. And that is where the trouble begins. Over the last two years, Maule alleges, the following organizations have lifted Maule’s photos of the Philly skyline and re-used them for either advertising or editorial purposes: The Inquirer, Gyro Advertising, The Colbert Report, Modern Steel Construction Magazine, and Family Dodge. And last week, Maule brought suit against them all for copyright infringement. (Full disclosure: Maule’s attorney is frequent Philebrity contributor and fellow legal counsel Conor Corcoran. Also, we drink with Brad sometimes.)
Now, there’s a lot of interesting things about this suit; many of them having to do with the challenges faced by photographers these days when they post their work online. We hear their tales of woe often, but just as often, photogs can have a just as open-source attitude as anyone else. But it’s hard to guess, and barring explicit Creative Commons instructions on a photographer’s website, it’s impossible to tell just what is and is not considered fair use in each particular photog’s personal view. Anyone could guess, though, that any photographer would be cheesed off to have his image jacked by, say, Family Dodge and not receive a penny for it. It’s hard to tell which way this case will go, but let’s all learn the lessons of it now: Photographers, if you really don’t want your images falling into the wrong hands, protect them. Even Flickr allows for an option that prevents downloading. And designers/ad people, don’t be idiots. You know the difference between stock junk that you can lift without fear of reprisal and someone’s original works. If we all just realized this kind of stuff, well, Conor could finally realize his dream of writing for Philebrity full-time, and Bradley, God bless him, could get back to his log cabin darkroom, unperturbed by the Internet or anyone else, for that matter.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 12:04 pm.