hmm interesting read indeed!! it;'s from 2007 and I wonder what if anything was done about this..
It seems that Getty Images learned a few years ago that they could buy 4x5 negatives of images from the US National Archives for $5 each. They bought thousands. Now they are selling these same images through their stock agency and claiming copyright on them. The vast majority of the images in the National Archives were taken by government employees and are public domain.
http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/2007/05/getty-claiming-copyright-to-national.html
It seems that Getty Images learned a few years ago that they could buy 4x5 negatives of images from the US National Archives for $5 each. They bought thousands. Now they are selling these same images through their stock agency and claiming copyright on them. The vast majority of the images in the National Archives were taken by government employees and are public domain.
http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/2007/05/getty-claiming-copyright-to-national.html