21 July 08: A statement regarding recent events


Composite image © R.B. Maule, 2005. Rendering of Comcast Center used with permission by Liberty Property Trust; rendering of Mandeville Place used with permission by Bedrock Group.

In the interest of disclosure and issuing a personal point of view about the news that Solomon Leach broke in Friday's Metro, I want to go back ten years.

From summer 1997 to summer 1998, I lived in Shippensburg's College Park apartments, the slummiest of slumlord-run off-campus apartments for students. Over the course of that year, on at least three different instances, my place was burgled, and among the things stolen were a camera, a VCR, a tower of CDs (remember those?) which had all my best Coltrane and P-Funk CDs, and a brand new Sony Playstation. I had no recourse, and being victimized was in no way fun.

On Memorial Day of '98, I'd driven to Orky's Bar in Shippensburg to buy a friend a beer for her 21st birthday. I left my backpack on the floor of the passenger side of the car, and in it were my 35mm SLR camera, a couple rolls of film and a textbook. It was Shippensburg, what could possibly happen? I left the bar around midnight and found out when the feeling of frustration and helplessness burst right back as I noticed the passenger door ajar. I ran to the car to see if the backpack was there, and it was not.

Before I could even scream an obscenity, I noticed a man up the street walking with a backpack in his hand -- not wearing it, but carrying it. I started running after him immediately, and he ran too. He turned up King Street, the main street in town, where lots of people were out for the holiday. I caught up to him half a block later and tackled him onto the street. A cop was outside the Uni-mart right up the street, so he rushed right down. He asked what this was all about, and I basically told him the above story. When we wrapped up the police report, for which I had to inventory everything in my backpack, the cop said -- I lie to you not -- "thanks for the help on this. We could use a few more citizens like yourself."

I don't tell this story to pat myself on the back, but effectively to show proof that what goes around comes around.

That's where the infringement lawsuits I've filed come into play. In '97 and '98, I was stolen from several times before it came to a head and justice was served. (In that case, I only got my backpack back -- the VCR, Playstation and CD tower were long gone.) In '07 and '08 (and probably before that), I was stolen from several times before it came to a head. This time, we'll see what the courts' interpretation of justice is.

In each of the cases, the offender lifted real photos first published on this web site and used them for their own gain, two of which had been previously sold and licensed to other clients. Those clients are one of my motivations for this action. This image theft is not only unfair to myself, but it's especially unfair to my paying clients.

More over, I'm doing this for photographers everywhere who may or may not know their rights. I've spoken with several photographers who have had their work lifted. I'm not talking about seeing their photo on someone's Myspace page or an HP inkjet print hanging in someone's cubicle -- I'm talking about photos being run, uncredited and without permission, in ads or in the media.

It's amazing to me that professional organizations can allow such a glaring oversight; what's the chain of command? Did an unpaid intern lift the photo and insert it into a graphic or story? Did that person's editor not ask if the photo was subject to an agreement and/or license? Did they just not care?

These are the questions asked by far too many a modern photographer. Flickr, Picasa, PBase and Photobucket all exist solely for photographers to show and share their work. But just because they're on the internet, it doesn't make these artists a bottomless well of free material.

This is where I want to be perfectly clear: there is a huge difference between Fair Use and copyright infringement. Fair Use -- basically what allows web sites and blogs to do what they do, legally -- is based on the Copyright Act of 1976, which says: "reproduction . . . for purposes such as criticism, comment (and) news reporting . . . is not an infringement of copyright." The Copyright Act of 1976 is available at 17 U.S.C. 701 et. seq. (Read more at FindLaw.com.) Three examples of Fair Use here on phillyskyline.com:
  1. Philly Skyline's Calendar of Events. See HERE for an example. In each case, the copyrighted image is used for news reporting purposes, and in most cases with the Calendar of Events, each case is used from a site affiliated with the event being promoted and is cited within the item in that Events listing.

  2. Philly Skyline vs Penny Postcards. See HERE for an example. In each case, the copyrighted image is used for comment purposes, specifically where I take a contemporary photo and compare it against its historical predecessor.

  3. Philly Skyline Skyline graphics review. See HERE for an example. In each case, the copyrighted image is used for criticism purposes, specifically to review the graphic in question's adaptation to the real life skyline.
I see it this way: providing a link and citation to graphics and stories is the modern equivalent of citing sources in a bibliography, be it APA style, Chicago style or what have you. Fair Use not only allows for this, but it's what makes the internet the inter-network of information it is.

But stealing a photo and using it, for example, in a full-page newspaper ad selling Dodge cars is not OK. Nor is, for example, a newspaper stealing a photo for use on its front page, to accompany a story that the very web site whose image was stolen had scooped four days earlier (including a weekend when the same newspaper could have sent one of its staff photographers out for a skyline photo). It's even more insidious when the images stolen have been intentionally cropped where there were watermarks reading "phillyskyline.com".



There's playing Fair, and there's playing unfair. These lawsuits are the result of the latter happening by organizations who absolutely know better.

* * *

I've chosen to file these suits for two reasons: photographers rights and accountability. There are far too many photographers who have seen their work used without permission or payment and not been able to do anything about it. I am fortunate enough to have an attorney, and good friend, on my side. Secondly, this should not have even happened. Any graphic designer worth his or her salt has a stock of images at the ready, and when that stock does not fulfill the need, he/she will contact a photographer to negotiate a deal for the desired image's use. An image's appearance in Google image search results does not constitute a photographer's permission.

At the bottom of nearly every page of this web site is a row of links which includes one to our legal terms, which read:
All contents copyright R. Bradley Maule and phillyskyline.com 2000-2008 unless otherwise noted (namely from submissions and contributions, where attribution is cited). You may save photos to your desktop if you like, but please don't use them for business endeavors or repost them online without my permission.

All photos are available for licensing or for purchase, except for those copyrighted by third parties (such as architectural renderings) and copyrighted brands (such as photos of professional sports). Feel free to contact me HERE.
And that's that. Phillyskyline.com exists as a platform to share the views of and around Philadelphia expressed by myself and the site's contributors, including written essays, photo essays, and various forms of commentary. I very regularly make large images available for free download, as desktop wallpaper or to print out and hang, because I believe in Fair Use. I have no intention of changing that. As well, I have great relationships with a number of clients, and I have no intention of changing that either. To them I say, very sincerely: thank you.

Finally, to everyone who has offered their support, both now and over the years: thank you very, very much.

* * *

Are you a photographer or graphic designer who's had your photography or designs ripped off for commercial gain? If so, Philly Skyline would like to hear from you. Our contact form is HERE.

Are you an attorney who specializes in intellectual property and copyright? If so, Philly Skyline would like to hear from you. Our contact form is HERE.

So concludes this bit of unpleasant, but necessary, business. I hope you're having a nice day, and we'll resume our regular Philly Skyline goodness shortly.

–R. Bradley Maule
As edited by J. Conor Corcoran



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