Photographer Sues Apple for Nicked Pics in iPhone Apps

By

A screenshot from
A screenshot from "HipstaHelp - The Unofficial Guide to Hipstamatic."

The details are a little blurry, but it could be an interesting case so here goes: a photographer is suing Apple claiming that two apps in its iTunes store have ripped off 80 of her pics.

Shanti Deva Korpi filed a suit on Oct. 18 in Texas for copyright infringement. That much we know. In the complaint, Korpi is described as an “avid photographer and artist” who regularly posts to Flickr groups.


We weren’t able to find her account, but Korpi claims all of her work was listed as copyright protected (“all rights reserved”) on Flickr and that her photos were downloaded and used without permission in the The Unofficial Guide to Hipstamatic app, which sells for $0.99.

Korpi states in the complaint that the main goal of the Unofficial Guide is to “scrape” photos from Flickr tagged or associated with Hipstamatic and use them as content. The pics in the app are stripped of all copyright notices and photographer info.

The second app Korpi cites in the complaint is listed as “Photoinspire,” and it has been recently removed from the app store. Korpi says this app also allows users to share the photos in it (again without any copyright or byline info) on social networks including Twitter and Facebook.

It’s described as “the ultimate “coffee-table” book for iPhone and iPad devices, pulling thousands of photographs from a wide-variety of sources,” as you can see from its promo online. (The developers listed for both apps also have similar names – one is listed as “Charles Jensen” and the other as “Chris Jensen.”)

Korpi says she notified Apple six times since June 2011 about the copyright infringements, but got no response.

Apple has not responded to requests for comment, neither has Korpi’s lawyer.

This isn’t the first time Apple has had copyright troubles with apps and photographers, but the last time it happened the suit was dropped. We’ll keep you posted.

Via Austin Statesman


Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.