Philippine Photographer Sues Major Daily

Over a year ago, this layout appeared in one of the sections of the Manila Bulletin. Nobody was given any credit (or payment) for the two larger photographs on the page.

A few months later, the uncredited photographer, Anton Sheker, is featured as the same paper’s Picture Perfect Artist of the Week. He mentions this little problem to the team working on his feature – naively hoping they would get the paper to take notice, get in touch with him, and resolve the problem. Nothing happens.

A few more months pass, and he gets tired of waiting for the middlemen – in this case, the Picture Perfect team. Instead, he goes to his own blog and makes it known that his photos have been stolen. In the post, he shares the original images and the stories behind them. He “hope[s] this post can make a difference,” but instead, he gets a few updates from the paper (click here and scroll down to the updates) that lead nowhere.

More time passes, and he finally sues the paper for copyright infringement, but not before they “threatened to slap [him] with a criminal case if [he] continued [his] claim.”

All I can say is that it’s about time. I hope the courts make it clear that just because it’s posted online, it doesn’t mean it’s free to take.

trivia: According to PRWeb.com, this will be “the first time that camera EXIF data will be used as evidence in the Philippines.”