Long-established US-based photographer Carol Highsmith is suing stock photo company Getty Images for the “gross misuse” of a catalogue of her work, according to US art magazine Hyperallergic.
Ms Highsmith was sent a $120 settlement demand for using one of Getty’s images without permission, but the image was actually Ms Highsmith’s own work displayed on her own website.
She has now responded by filing a US$1 billion lawsuit against the Seattle-based agency.
Ms Highsmith has spent her life documenting every state in her country. She has also donated her archive of photos to the Library of Congress, something they called “one of the greatest acts of generosity in the history of the Library”.
The donation ensures the images are in the public domain with “no known restrictions on publication”.
Upon receiving the settlement demand, Ms Highsmith went on to discover that Getty was charging users for a copyright license in order to have the right to use up to 18,000 of her photographs being displayed on their website.
In a lawsuit filed July 25 in a New York District Court, Highsmith’s lawyers make their position clear.
“Nowhere on its website does Getty identify Ms Highsmith as the sole author of the Highsmith Photos. Likewise, nowhere on its website does Getty identify Ms Highsmith as the copyright owner of the work,” they write.
“Instead, Getty misrepresents the terms and conditions of using the Highsmith Photos by falsely claiming a user must buy a copyright license from Getty in order to have the right to use the Highsmith Photos.”
