3 Count: Girls and Boys

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1: Photographer wins $1.2 million from companies that took pictures off Twitter

First off today, Joseph Ax at Reuters reports that a New York Jury ordered Getty Images and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) to pay $1.2 million to photojournalist Daniel Moriel after they both used images he took in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake without his permission.

Moriel, who was in Haiti immediately after the earthquake, took several photographs and posted them to his Twitter via TwitPic. The AFP and Getty had initially said that his posting granted them a license to use the photos. But after that and other arguments were shot down, the judge found the two companies liable and ordered a trial to determine if the infringement was willful and what the damages should be.

The jury came back and awarded Moriel $1.2 million in statutory damages. This is despite the fact that a lawyer for the AFP attempted to call the infringement an innocent mistake and tried to blame the Twitter user that repurposed Moriel’s photos, where they originally found them.

2: Beastie Boys Deny Suit Threat Against GoldieBlox

Next up today, ABC News is reporting that GoldieBlox, a toy company that specializes in making engineering toys aimed at girls, is suing the Beastie Boys alleging that the rap group threatened to sue them over a viral video.

At issue is a video that GoldieBlox made and posted to YouTube, which featured a modified version of the Beastie Boys song “Girls”. According to the lawsuit, GolideBlox is claiming that the use was a parody and they are seeking a declaratory judgment that the video is a fair use.

However, the Beastie Boys are saying that they never threatened to sue GoldieBlox. Though they have a long-standing policy about the use of their music in commercials, they claim to have simply written them to ask how the music ended up in their video. In response, according to the band, GoldieBlox filed a preemptive lawsuit.

3: YouTuber Says He Was Censored For Criticizing Another YouTuber

Finally today, Jason Schreier at Kotaku reports that YouTube users Matt Lees recently posted a video that was critical of another YouTuber, KSIOlajidebt (KSI), who is a controversial figure in the online video game community.

According to Lees, he posted a video criticizing KSI and showing clips of previous KSI videos to illustrate his points. However, shortly after it went online, the video was removed due to a copyright complaint from KSI himself.

Lees is also saying that, in addition to the video being offline, the copyright strike has hurt his standing with YouTube, making it difficult for him to monetize his videos, hurting his ability to work on the site.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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