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
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
14 responses to “Photographer Sues Apple for Nicked Pics in iPhone Apps”
It’s not Apple’s fault, developers sign a contract saying they take full resposibility for their products to make sure they are 100% copyright cleared… I have 500+ photos online at my flickr gallery and I’m certain they are used in many ways without my permission in places where someone is making a profit that I don’t see a penny of. However, this is the risk I take. The only way to not be at risk is to remove your works entirely from the ‘net. Otherwise you’re just kidding yourself if you think people will respect copyright law….
This isn’t Apple’s fault, this dumb lady is just trying to make a quick buck hopping they will just settle out of court.
The app doesn’t “scrape” anything. It’s an RSS feed of a public group pool in Flickr. This person has included their photos in a public feed. If they don’t want the photos included, they shouldn’t tag them for entry in a public feed. So simple. Yes, I’m the Dev. This issue was resolved (in my favor) months ago, but apparently this photographer’s skull is rather thick and is now pursuing a different line of attack; one doomed to failure.
You can even play along at home. Here’s one RSS feed from the Flickr group pool as it relates to a specific filter type for Hipstamatic: feed://api.flickr.com/services…
Tell her to go back to mexico and such the heck up
Yeah bc Shanti Deva Korp is a typical Mexican name…. Moron!!
This case will also be dropped because she’s suing the wrong folks.
Developers have to sign that they have the appropriate rights to anything in their apps and they, not Apple, are responsible if it turns out they don’t.
If this woman has a case to say that her photos can’t be included she needs to put her lawyers on the developers. She could nicely tell Apple that they didn’t have the rights and the app might be temporarily pulled until the developers can prove they are in the right. but that’s about it for Apple.
+1 to developers who laugh in the faces of morons like this….To the “Guest” above, Shanti Deva Korp is not a Mexican name. Sounds black to me. Perhaps Shanti De La Shaniqua Moniqua Kwazaa should be learnin’ some education, HOLLAAA!!!!!