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by balls187 2907 days ago
> A sculptor who created a replica of the Statue of Liberty for a Las Vegas casino was awarded $3.5 million in damages last week after the US Postal Service (USPS) accidentally used a photo of his statue

Wouldn't that imply that the copyright owner is actually the Casino, and not the sculptor?

And if the USPS purchased a license to use a photograph, and Getty sold them the rights to use the photograph, wouldn't Getty bare some responsibility?

EDIT:

From Getty EULA, you are responsible:

Unless specifically warranted above, Getty Images does not grant any right or make any warranty with regard to the use of names, people, trademarks, trade dress, logos, registered, unregistered or copyrighted audio, designs, works of art or architecture depicted or contained in the content. In such cases, you are solely responsible for determining whether release(s) is/are required in connection with your proposed use of the content, and you are solely responsible for obtaining such release(s). You acknowledge that no releases are generally obtained for content identified as “editorial,” and that some jurisdictions provide legal protection against a person’s image, likeness or property being used for commercial purposes when they have not provided a release. You are also solely responsible for payment of any amounts that may be due under, and compliance with any other terms of, any applicable collective bargaining agreements as a result of your use of the licensed content.

2 comments

Doesn't imply that - in fact the opposite. It implies that the sculptor retained rights to imagery of the work.
Good point.

I should have said--did the defense actually determine that the sculptor retained their copyright, given the work was commissioned by a casino.

Well if the casino did own the copyright, the Post Office still had to pay up under the same exact law. A casino passing up $3.5 million? You bet they would have sued hard and probably would have won more.
That's normal for commissioned works. When you hire a contractor, by default they retain copyright over whatever they create.

https://copyright.uslegal.com/copyright-ownership/commission...

What about “work for hire”?
From the link:

> Work made for hire and commissioned work are different from one another because work made for hire involves an employee and commissioned work is executed by an independent contractor.

> And if the USPS purchased a license to use a photograph, and Getty sold them the rights to use the photograph, wouldn't Getty bare some responsibility?

The USPS have to bear the responsibility first - the sculptor shouldn't have to dig into all of the USPS' business dealings before filing a lawsuit.

However the USPS have a contract with Getty in which either Getty misrepresented what they were selling, or the USPS did not read the contract correctly. In the former case USPS should be able to recover some of the loss from Getty, but it looks more like the latter.