With an endless amount of photos floating around on Twitter, it's easy to find images of almost anything. But this large social-media bank of seemingly free-to-share photos can also lead to issues regarding ownership and copyright infringement.
A New York jury delivered a landmark decision on Friday when it sided with freelance photographer Daniel Morel after he sued Getty Images and Agence France-Presse for using photos that he posted on Twitter without his permission. Morel won $1.2 million for the unauthorized use of his images.
The case first made headlines back in January, when U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan ruled that AFP and Getty Images were at fault for infringement.
An AFP editor found Morel's photos through another Twitter user's account, and sent them to Getty Images, according to Reuters. Morel's photographs were eventually distributed to other outlets, including The Washington Post.
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The photographs depict Haiti, the photographer's birthplace, after a 2010 earthquake. As his official website says, he's spent about 20 years "documenting his native country, capturing culture, history and people."
In 2010, AFP filed a lawsuit against Morel asking that he negate earlier claims accusing the organization of copyright infringement. Morel then filed his own countersuit regarding the wrongful use of his images. AFP initially argued that Twitter allows for the fair use of photographs, but Judge Nathan ultimately ruled that Twitter allows for posting and retweeting, but not commercial use of photographs posted by users.
A number of similar lawsuits cropped up earlier this year. In June, Forbes reported that a photographer sued BuzzFeed for unauthorized use of a Flickr photograph. Kai Eiselein asked for about $3.6 million.
Perez Hilton's blog was also threatened with legal action by a New York Times photographer. Robert Caplin asked for $2.1 million for the wrongful use of 14 photographs, PetaPixel reported.
Morel's case, however, specifically tackles the issue of photographs posted on social media. The ruling shows that even on social-media platforms, photographers can maintain the right of ownership to their photographs.
Full disclosure: Mashable is a Getty subscriber.
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Image: Flickr, Eric Wüstenhagen