A common disparagement of copyright advocacy is that it is anti-technology. Despite overwhelming evidence that professional creators are early adopters of new technlogical developements, the talking point persists that enforcing the rights of creators can only “stifle innovation.” This “Luddite” critique of copyright rights was used to defend the predatory models of social and streaming platforms (and defend outright piracy), ...
Plenty is being said about AI systems that generate visual works, written works, music, etc. And plenty more will be said, especially now that lawsuits have been filed against some of the AI-generated image companies. In this post, I want to address a misconception about authorship in copyright law that may be warping the AI conversation. As I understand the ...
I understand pursuing a fair use defense in a copyright case when the user of a work does something new and creative and believes there is a plausible argument to be made. I also understand why copyright skeptics file amicus briefs seeking opinions that would change the fair use doctrine. But what I find astonishing is the professional, who makes ...
Not that I have any delusions about the reach of this blog, but for what it’s worth, here’s a pro-tip for celebrities everywhere about sharing photographs of yourselves on social media: if you don’t own the rights in the image, don’t post it. This keeps happening. A celebrity posts an image of himself, the photographer who owns the rights in ...
In this episode, I talk to art and commercial photographer Eric O’Connell, who is also an associate professor of practice at Northern Arizona University. We talk about his work, about photography in general, his students, and of course copyright. O’Connell’s photo recently won Off the Clock 2021 Best in Show from American Photographic Artists (APA). Read interview here. Visit Eric ...
