Photographer That Won Embedded Tweet Copyright Infringement Case Takes More Publications to Court

In case you didn’t know, if you embed a stolen image, you could possibly be liable for the copyright infringement that entails.

At least that was the conclusion of one photographer’s court case against an embedded tweet featuring his stolen picture, and now he’s taking his fight to other publications that embedded the tweet with the image in what could be a big deal for the way we share some media online.

For those of you not familiar with embedding, it is the process by which you obtain shortcode (typically HTML) from Twitter, YouTube, or somewhere else that you can then paste onto your website in an article or another forum.

It is a pretty common thing and, so far, no one who has embedded something stolen has gotten into trouble.

That could change.

The photographer is Justin Goldman and his pictures of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and other sports stars are at the center of this case in New York where it is alleged that Goldman uploaded these pictures to his Snapchat where they were then taken by users and put on Twitter where the images went viral.

As FStoppers notes, embedding stolen images is often one method websites use to skirt copyright laws.

Not only did Goldman win his initial case, but the publication he took to court lost their motion for an appeal which means the ruling of the lower court stands.

Goldman is now pursuing legal action against other websites that embedded the image.

Like we said, it could be a big change for the way we embed media going forward. What do you think?

Is embedding copyrighted images a bad practice that has gone on under the radar for too long? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Also, check out some of my other photography news articles on Light Stalking by clicking here.

[FStoppers]