The Little Guy Wins!

[Bekka]

I realize this is not about images, but it is about patents and a big company going after small farmers.  The circumstances of useage regarding their patented product is pretty much accidental like most cases here, and Monsanto sees big money to be made.  While part of the ruling in this case remains questionable for future precedents, it is indeed nice to see David win against Goliath.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/12/25/percy-schmeiser-farmer-who-beat-monsanto.aspx?e_cid=20111225_SNL_Art_1

I hope we will see more victories where the little guy prevails!

Merry Christmas.
Bekka

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Hi Bekka, good to see you here!...There are actually correlations between the farmers situation and HAN, if you read into  it like I do.. Tylors images "contaminating" wallpaper sites that offer free downloads, creative commons licenses, and code snippets to use. Innocent users grabbing these image and then being chased down with demand letters.. The question still remains as to what Hawaiian Art Network and V.K. Tylor or doing to clean this up..

[Oscar Michelen]

Great case study! I agree that it can be compared to the HAN issue but only if one can establish that HAN "seeded" the internet with its image on free wallpaper sites. 

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Great case study! I agree that it can be compared to the HAN issue but only if one can establish that HAN "seeded" the internet with its image on free wallpaper sites.

That seems to be the biggest hurdle, I don't think HAN is actually seeding it, I lean more towards the photographer himself. Afterall none of the other photogs associated with HAN have their images on wallpaper sites..just an observation. I've looked into a dozen or so wallpaper site domains, most are registered in Romania and such, but I also note that some are hosted in the US with US companies, I suppose it would take some doing to get a look at log files to see whom was uploading what and when from where.

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

But what is interesting is, for the first time, the stock agency AND the photographer have filed suit in this case. So I guess that means the photographer can be questioned directly about how his images came to be on these wallpaper sites, what relationship he has with these sites and what action, if any, he has taken to remove these images from the site.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Exactly! Not to mention the relationship the photog has with Copyright Services International, which happens to be owned by the same person that owns Hawaiian Art network..the wallpaper sites seem to be the only missing link..at least in my opinion that is.

[Oscar Michelen]

These are good points that also show why it would be great to have counsel for the defendants who knew all of these issues.  Hopefully at the very least, they will stop by this forum and get educated! 

[Matthew Chan]

Bekka,

I had heard about Monsanto and their shenanigans in a documentary.  It is really disturbing what they have done to small farmers.  Unfortunately, in their line of work, they don't frequently use the Internet or online resources to get support for themselves. Also, when this began happening, they didn't have easy open Internet access as we do today.

Thanks for sharing. It is one reason why this new Legal Controversies Forum was started.  The ELI audience want to know more about David vs. Goliath cases.