The sculptor has won a case against the U.S. Postal Service is not paid the interest on the author's use of the images of his work
ARTinvestment.RU   28 мая 2012

Background of the case is as follows. Back in 1986 Frank Gaylord won the design competition to veterans of the Korean War Memorial in Washington. Amateur artist for nearly five years working on the creation of a sculptural group "column" of 19 persistent American soldiers. When Gaylord Memorial was completed, an amateur photographer, John Alley (John Alli) made a series of photographs of the monument. One particularly good picture - "Column" under the fresh snow - Allie printed and presented to his father, a veteran of the Korean War.

In 2002 the U.S. government has decided to commemorate the heroes of the Korean War on a postage stamp and chosen for this purpose a photo of John Gaylord Allie with a monument. Alli defended his author photograph the license, and therefore received from the U.S. Postal Service laid $ 1,500 fee for the use of his work. However, to ask for permission to reproduce the sculptor of the monument to mark his postal workers do not bother, and this doomed themselves to any further legal wrangling.

Frank Gaylord decided to sue the U.S. Postal Service due to violations of its copyright in 2006. And only now, in this case made a final decision. The court sided with the sculptor, saying that the image of the monument Gaylord has not undergone substantial transformation in the photo Allie (ie, on the mark), and therefore, this case can not be classified as "fair use". According to Judge Moore, and the brand and the memorial to serve a single purpose - to perpetuate the memory of veterans of the Korean War. And the fact that the nature of the day the picture was Allie decided to hide the monument snow, does not deprive the sculptor's rights to it.

Open remains the main question - how much will the aggrieved party in the face of the sculptor? Decision of the lower court Gaylord had to get 5000 dollars - so much the U.S. Postal Service is not paid before any of the authors. However, U.S. District Court decided that the sculptor deserves more, namely 10 percent commission - an ordinary share in the licensing of images of sculptures. How this will be in dollars, the court will decide later. It is known that since the release of stamps the U.S. Postal Service has earned on its sale of 30.2 million dollars.

decision of the District Court in Gaylord sets a precedent: now any author could theoretically sue the federal government for violation of his rights. But whose side will the law is still difficult to predict. Vague notion of "fair use" in each case will be treated differently. Even in this case it is impossible to say that Alli on their photos are not introduced anything new to the monument of Gaylord.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI