Thursday, June 29, 2006

UnSettlement Parties' Shuck-and-Jive Act

As we all process the meaning of the latest "Emily Latella" ploy by the lawyers -- Oh sorry, we didn't mean what we said in the claim-defect mailing of last week, never mind -- I'm reminded of another Second Circuit Court of Appeals copyright case from earlier this year, Dallal v. New York Times. (See our earlier post at http://freelancerights.blogspot.com/2006/05/second-circuit-rules-for-photographer.html and the Graphic Artists Guild's complete info at http://www.gag.org/activities/advocacy_materials/dallal_vs_nytimes2.php.)

For those whose eyes glaze over at legalese, let's talk for a moment in plain English about what this is all about. In the amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief in support of Dallal, the American Society of Media Photographers said:

This case is about more than just a violation of basic copyright law. It is about a defendant with deep pockets and tremendous clout in the publishing industry who repeatedly and willfully violated not only copyright law, but also trade customs and practices that had been established and unquestioned for decades. When this defendant's actions were deemed infringing by the U.S. Supreme Court, it promptly changed its tune and argued that it never knew there was a problem.

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