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Israeli Court Holds that Photos Belong to Hirers
Posted by Steven Wu on Monday, November 25 @ 01:18:59 EST Copyright
Lawmeme editor Shlomit Wagman reports: "An Israeli court ruled Sunday that the copyright to pictures taken shortly before a major disaster belongs to the individuals who hired the photographer; the newspaper that published those pictures was found to have violated both their copyrights and their privacy.

"In May 2001 the Versai function hall collapsed during a wedding, killing 23 people. Maariv, one of the biggest newspapers in Israel, bought pictures from a photographer hired by the couple to take pictures of what they expected to be their happiest day. It then published photos of them taken earlier in the day without their permission.

"The Reishon Letzion Magistrate's Court held that the copyrights belong to the married couple who hired the photographer and not to the photographer himself, that the public interest in the tragedy didn't justify publishing private pictures of the couple taken before the "public" event, and that Maariv could have bought the pictures directly from the couple. The judge also criticized the newspaper for publishing the photos in order to increase its sales without first checking to see whether the photographer had the rights to sell them. The newspaper was fined $60,000."

 
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