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Judge Dismisses Photographer’s Lawsuit Over ‘Pulp Fiction’ Poster

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the photographer who shot the iconic photo of Uma Thurman on the poster for Pulp Fiction, saying he waited too long to file for copyright infringement.

The New York Post reports that photographer Firooz Zahedi filed a lawsuit against Miramax in May of 2020 for violating a contract that stipulated limited use of the photo to promote the film at the time of its release in 1994. Zahedi claimed that the studio used the image on "untold thousands of consumer products" that went beyond the original "limited" stipulation in the contract.

Zahedi was paid $10,000 to take the photo of Uma Thurman's character Mia Wallace at the time in an agreement that Miramax says was under a work-for-hire agreement (though the production studio was unable to locate the documents that would prove this claim). This, however, ended up not mattering in the ruling.

In 2015, Zahedi was gifted an action figure of the character that had packaging that featured the photo and in 2019, he was given a pair of socks that had the photo on them, which finally prompted him to file the suit.

Justice Dolly Gee found that Zahedi knew about Miramax's alleged unauthorized use of the photo dating back to when he received that first action figure but did not file the suit for five more years which placed the claim outside of the statute of limitations.

Because Zahedi posed with a photo of him holding the action figure in a photo taken by Zahedi's stepson on Instagram with a comment from Zahedi that stated "Thanks… Sometimes it’s best to settle for the little things in life," there was a provable moment in time that Zahedi knew about the alleged infringement, starting the clock for a lawsuit. That window then expired in 2018.

As a result, Justice Gee granted Miramax's request to dismiss the case.

The underlying issue is over the ownership of the image, the Hollywood Reporter notes. If the ownership of the image wasn't in contention and the argument was simply over the continued use of the image, Zahedi would be able to sue over infringement over the last three years without a deadline.

“Where the gravamen of a claim is ownership, the statute of limitations will bar a claim if (1) the parties are in a close relationship and (2) there has been an ‘express repudiation’ of the plaintiff’s ownership claim,” Justice Gee stated in her ruling.

Now Miramax reportedly plans to counterclaim against Zahedi for his alleged unauthorized use of the photo, as he used the photo on the back cover of a book of his works and sold prints of the photo through galleries.

#culture #news #copyright #copyrightinfringement #firoozzahedi #imagerights #lawsuit #miramax #movieposter #ownership #photorights #pulpfiction

Delta the Latest to Overreach With Photo Rights Grab Via a Hashtag

Delta Airlines is the latest in a long line of companies who have egregious overreaching rights grabs baked into a program that uses Instagram hashtags. The company claims massive rights to any images that are tagged using #SkyMilesLife.

Corporate overreach into the rights of photographers is not uncommon and has occurred numerous times over the past decade. In 2015, the New York Times published an article that brought awareness to the situation where brands will publish this kind of user-generated content without explicit permission by hiding detailed and complicated terms behind fine print and leveraging social media hashtags to do so.

In 2019, Hilton Hotels was caught in a similar situation. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) likewise recently solicited photographers to share photos on Instagram under monthly themes, but claimed significantly more rights than it appeared at first glance.

This time, Delta Airlines has asked its customers to share photos of their favorite moments and tag #SkyMilesLife for a chance to be featured by the company's social media presence and "inspire" others to take trips around the world.

On the surface, this is a pleasant and harmless gesture, but Delta -- who has advertised this program on billboards in airports as seen by David Bergman via an Instagram Story -- backloaded the call to share with fine print that says Delta would gain substantial rights to those images:

By tagging photos using #SkyMilesLife and/or #DeltaMedallionLife, user grants Delta Air Lines (and those they authorize) a royalty-free, world-wide, perpetual, non-exclusive license to publicly display, distribute, reproduce and create derivative works of the submissions (“Submissions”), in whole or in part, in any media now existing or later developed, for any purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising and promotion on Delta websites, commercial products and any other Delta channels, including but not limited to #SkyMilesLife or #DeltaMedallionLife publications. Delta reserves the right to use or not use content tagged #Skymileslife and/or #DeltaMedallionLife and user will not be entitled to compensation if photo is used.

User grants to Delta (and those they authorize), the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use, re-use, publish and re-publish, and copyright his or her performance, likeness, picture, portrait, photograph, in any media format, in whole or part and/or composite representations, in conjunction with my name, including alterations, modifications, derivations and composites thereof, throughout the world and universe for advertising, promotion, trade, or any lawful purposes.

The above are just two sections from a rather detailed set of paragraphs that hand over rights to photos in a way that most photographers who don't read or don't see the fine print will not expect. At the time of publication, 107,185 photos were listed under the #SkyMilesLife hashtag.

Screenshot from Delta's #SkyMilesLife Terms and Conditions page.

In the past, PetaPixel has sought the input of NPPA General Counsel Mickey Osterreicher regarding hashtag rights overreach, who said that photographers who see this kind of language have every right to be alarmed. The terms grant unlimited permission to use the photo in any way the company chooses without any remuneration, and also place all the liability for any improper use on the photographer and shifts it away from the company.

“Unfortunately, this is the typical overreach that we see far too much use of online," Osterreicher has said. "It is a rights grab that is often not read or understood. It not only harms those who submit their work for free and then makes them liable for the possible misuse of that work but also undermines those who do value their work by licensing it.

“In a supply and demand economy, this virtually destroys the market with a glut of free images. The contract could certainly be written differently but that will only happen when people stop agreeing to these unfair and onerous terms.”

The company might argue that it is simply trying to protect itself, but the key point here is that Delta does not need to phrase the "contract" to have such overarching rights to images, but unless the company and those like it are repeatedly called out for the overreach, none of the entities have any incentive to change policy. Additionally, Delta's fine print says the photographer is not entitled to any compensation if the photo is ever used.

“Clearly if there wasn’t value to these images, why would they be asking for them and these rights?” Osterreicher has told PetaPixel.

Delta Airlines did not respond to PetaPixel 's request for comment.

“Just as people would not agree to buy a car, lease an apartment, or purchase a house without understanding the terms of those written contracts, so too should they read and understand these online agreements,” Osterreicher said. “If the car payments are too much, the lease too long, or the price of the house too high, commonsense dictates that you try to negotiate better terms or walk away. These online uploading or #hashtag ‘opportunities’ are no different.”

Image credits: Header image uses elements licensed via Depositphotos.

#culture #law #news #delta #deltaairlines #hashtags #instagramhashtags #legal #mickeyosterreicher #photographerrights #photorights #rights #rightsgrab