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."