Washington Post and Agence France-Presse Illegally Used Photos of Haitian Photographer Daniel Morel, Who Had Posted Them on Twitter, Attorney Says

From the law office of Francine Denise Ward, who represented Haitian photographer Daniel Morel (photo) in his suit against Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Judge Alison Nathan from the District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the Agence France-Presse and The Washington Post improperly used images that photojournalist Daniel Morel posted to his Twitter page.

"With the explosive growth of Social Media, ownership of content has become an all-important issue. Once you post a story or photo to a social media site, is anyone allowed to use your content without permission? This is the question that everyone has been waiting for the courts to answer.

"Agence France-Presse argued that once the photos appeared on Twitter they became freely available for use. However, Judge Nathan countered by pointing out that Twitter’s terms of service did not give the news agency license to publish the content without permission from Morel. More specifically, the Judge concluded that while Twitter’s terms of use does allow for reposting and rebroadcasting of content through actions, such as “retweeting”, it does not grant permission for commercial use."

See full release from attorney Ward: http://www.francinewardblog.com/?p=1242

See previous Brooklynron post: http://www.brooklynron.com/2013/01/daniel_morel.html