Corbis Copyright Complaint

Corbis email | 04/16/04 | Jim Robinson

[Jim Robinson]

Dear FReepers,

As most of you know, there was some recent media and internet excitement regarding some photos and images of Jane Fonda and John Kerry, some real, and some parodied. Some of these photos and images were copyrighted material controlled by Corbis or derivatives of Corbis copyrighted material. We received a copyright complaint some time back from Corbis and immediately removed all posts we could find containing links to these images.

We've now received another complaint. Apparently, we missed a few, so now we've done another search a found and deleted all we could find. Corbis is also complaining about posted links of these images that are hosted on newsmax.com, indymedia.com and totallysweetpixels.com.

John wrote a script to search our database of posts and removed all of these he could find.

We want to cooperate and fully comply with Corbis's wishes not to have any of their copyrighted material linked from Free Republic, even if it is linked from a third party server.

Please do not post links to any Corbis photos or images, regardless of where they may be hosted. Please let us know through the abuse reporting system if you see or know of any Corbis material that has been posted or linked to Free Republic.

Thanks very much.

Regards,

Jim Robinson

[Lunatic Fringe]

As you wish, Jim... But I think some folks need to realized it is a brave new web-based world!

[SpyGuy]

I believe that their claim is in direct violation of "Fair Use" laws. What Freepers need to do with all imagery is to post proper credit notices.

[tiamat]

Just a bit sensitive, aren't they?

sorry you have to go through this crap!

[Tax-chick]

Once "Registered" has worked on a picture, I would think Corbis would want to pretend they'd never had anything to do with it :-0>

[Izzy Dunne]

Hmmmm.
FR can't even LINK to a Corbis image on a NewsMax server.
Are we supposed to investigate the source of any image before posting links to it?

[kevkrom]

I know you're just trying to avoid legal problems, but there's no way anyone can force you to not link to another web site -- it's a different story with so-called "deep linking", where another site's content is displayed on your page, but to prohibit standard linking is inappropriate.

[dirtboy]

I believe that their claim is in direct violation of "Fair Use" laws. What Freepers need to do with all imagery is to post proper credit notices.

JimRob and FR did their part to try and establish fair use in the Internet world. We'll have to let someone with deeper pockets win this war, IMO.

[ElkGroveDan]

This is ridiculous. The Corbis people are insane.

AP and many other wire services and newspapers often use Corbis for file photos and historical references. I know they still own the copyrights, but how the heck are we supposed to know that when we simply link to something that someone else has paid to use.

[Dan Walsh]

I'm sure that Kerry has all FBI files by now!

[SpyGuy]

This is ridiculous. The Corbis people are insane. AP and many other wire services and newspapers often use Corbis for file photos and historical references

Of course, the real underlying question here is, would Corbis be going after us for posting pictures of Kerry if we were supporting his candidacy?

[onedoug]

I recall that most, if not all of those pix had CORBIS transparent tags across them, so at least they were being attributed.

[LisaMalia]

The Corbis people are insane.

Or have alot of time on their hands. Or else they are afraid of what is being accomplished on this site. I vote for the latter.

[ElkGroveDan]

Jim get your lawyer on the phone. If you do a search on Corbis of the term FreeRepublic, you will find an image of a Freeper event in front of the Clintons' home.

CAPTION:

"Democratic Fundraiser
Protestors near the home of former US President Bill Clinton and US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D- New York) during a Democratic fundraiser. The protestors, from Freerepublic.com rallied each Saturday in front of the White House during the Clinton years and moved their protests to the Clinton's home after the President left office. --- Photo by Ron Sachs/Corbis Sygma "

I see whole bunch of copyright infringment possibilities here, including the faces and signs of the Freepers pictured. Unfortunately we can't post the photo. But lets all go have a look and see if we can have those Freepers weigh in on Corbis using their faces and artwork.

[J. L. Chamberlain]

The Corbis people are insane.

Agreed. But Corbis is really just one person. One with really, really deep pockets and that person is Bill Gates.

J

[Cboldt]

A bit more definition, if you please.

Is it okay of one types "http://www.corbis.com" into a message?

Is it okay to type a page URL, where the page has a link to a Corbis image?

Is it okay to have an "href" link like this -> http://www.corbis.com <-- Link (this does not load unless the user clicks on it)

Is it okay to have an "href" link to a URL, where the page has a link to a Corbis image?

[Prime Choice]

I believe Corbis has no leg to stand on here. They cannot hold Free Republic responsible for another hosting site holding copies of their copyrighted images. In such an instance, any lawyer will tell you that it's the site that hosts the image that is in violation of copyright and should be given notice, not anyone who links to it.

For any attorney to suggest otherwise is to argue that any Free Republic link to a pro-Kerry URL is an endorsement of Kerry. It flies in the face of logic and common sense.

I know that your resources are not infinite, but I seriously think you should take this matter to a copyright lawyer. Unless I am grossly misunderstanding copyright law, they will agree with my assessment of this matter.

[Alas Babylon!]

Actually what it comes down to is this. A couple of months ago some skilled FReeper created (or found) an old looking, early 1970's photo of Jane Fonda and Kerry sitting at a table before a war protest of some kind. Everyone thought it was a "smoking gun", but it wasn't real. It was two separate Corbis pictures photoshoped together.

Anyway, this picture started making the rounds, it even got up to Fox News. Later Corbis found out about it and blew a gasket. Who knows, maybe the Kerry campaign staff told them they'd sue them. So now JimRob is on Corbis's shiite list. We need to keep JimRob's blood pressure down and his servers up by not posting their crap. However, you're right that the fact that Free Republic is a CONSERVATIVE web site and politically the "Artiste" community is fired up about that, too.

[Prime Choice]

Of course, the real underlying question here is, would Corbis be going after us for posting pictures of Kerry if we were supporting his candidacy?

That is a fair question, but -- in terms of the legal situation -- irrelevant to the matter at hand.

Linking to a copyrighted image is not copyright infringement. Hosting a copy of a copyrighted image that is not utilized under the Fair Use exemption of 17 United States Code 107 is. Thus, even in such a case, it is not Free Republic that is violating copyright; it is the site that hosts said image.

I believe Corbis is using the threat of legal action when they know full well they have no leg on which to stand in any court of law.

[Sloth]

Good questions. A ban on linking is simply absurd. They might as well say, "We insist that you refrain from using the Internet in the future."