Now it’s Manila Bulletin’s turn. The newspaper filed a counter suit against photographer and blogger Anton Sheker.
Anton earlier filed a Php 1.2 Million copyright lawsuit against Manila Bulletin (including the graphics artist and section editor) for publishing his photos without his permission {see earlier story here and the first coverage here}.
In return, Manila Bulletin is suing back Anton with exemplary and moral damages for Php 2.0 Million. MB claims fair use in its publication of the photos.
The developments are getting juicer. Will post updates once I get a copy of the complaint.
This is why nobody reads the Bulletin anymore.
I wonder what is “fair use” when stealing images.
If anyone still gets the Manila Bulletin, scan one of their page 1 photos and use it for an article that the photo doesn’t suggest. Hey, why don’t everyone do that. Fair use.
i agree with mr patrick that this is a just a their (MB) to intimidate Anton to back down. instead of settling which would be admitting to the theft!
“That’s just Manila Bulletin’s way of intimidating Anton to drop the lawsuit. If Anton backs down because of it, that’s going to be a big blow to the entire bloggingcommunity kasi matatakot na ang lahat mag-upload ng digital content nila online.” -patrick e.
Manila Bulletin could have easily avoided this by publishing an errata, citing the lack of attribution for the original photos. Real newspapers do that all the time — mistakes are unavoidable, given the deadlines of putting the paper to bed. But, nooo, the Bulletin cannot be bothered with that little inconsequential detail.
Their fair use defense is laughable. IANAL, but I seem to recall that fair use is for criticism (for example) and adding new value to the body of knowledge as a whole. In my opinion, this one is a clear and blatant duplication of the original — an infringement — and cannot be defensible under the fair use doctrine.
How terribly creative of the MB legal team. Seriously, they should just settle and compensate the photo source. Local “big” companies are really such big fat bullies; no wonder a lot of SMEs and freelancers don’t want to bother even asserting their rights in the first place.
Go Anton!
Twitter: lagahit
says:
can’t wait to here more of this.. ::) a bit scary pero worth the fight..
What? Fair use? They’re kidding right? WTF!
i for one will no longer be buying manila bulletin.
[...] Manila Bulletin files counter suit against photoblogger. [...]
MB is filing a counter suit to intimidate Anton.
its their strongest defense for now. they assume that Anton will be bluffed by their complaint, and they hope that anton will either go for settlement or just drop the case.
its just part of their strategy. there is a high possibility that if Anton does not back out, they will ask for a settlement.
and if this happens, its going to be your call anton. as they have said, this is a landmark case.
anything that will happen here will be remembered.
THE BEST THING TO DO IS TO BOYCOTT THE BULLETIN!
There are probably thousands of Filipino photography enthuiasts. If we count all their friends and relatives, this could be millions.
The BULLETIN earns money thru its ads. If we boycott it, their sales go down and so does the ads.
At the moment the INQUIRER no. 1, the STAR is no. 2
and the BULLETIN is no. 3. By boycotting we could make the BULLETIN no. “LAST” on the broadsheets sales survey.
LET US MAKE OUR VOICES be HEARD! BOYCOTT THE BULLETIN!
Hinde matatakot yan BULLETIN handa hinde humihina ang sales nila.
Sa Visayas, mahina na sila! Kaya ang mga newsboys dito sa Visayas, pina-party nila complete with umbrellas, t-shirts and bags.
Pero ganoon pa rin, mahina pa rin ang sales.
Kasi yon ibang dealers inis-SNOB nila.
Silently these dealers retaliated by hiding the BULLETIN copies.
ANTON,
Let us email our friends, relatives and others about
your predicament.
Let us tell them how the BULLETIN violated our intellectual and property rights.
Let us tell them to BOYCOTT the bulletin~!
From:
a fellow photo enthuiast.
Oh my! That is a nasty lawsuit!
I would boycott MB, but I have not bought that piece of trash paper in years.
[...] it. If the New York Times is in trouble, how long can Philippine newspapers stay complacent and condescending in the face of the [...]
I’d say that a boycott is in order at the very least (if anyone here actually buys print media anymore, that is). Email campaign would be a nice touch too (although a bit spammy for my taste).
Why don’t we try to do what people worldwide do whenever the RIAA/MPAA tries to bully individuals and start something of a legal fund for Anton (and other individuals) just in case he’ll need help with litigation costs? Big corporations in this country have to be taught a lesson – that they can’t bully around the little people anymore.
Although I respect everybody’s opinion I think boycotting MB is a not a nice idea. Why? Because the ones that will be adversely affected by this “irrational” action are not the management people of MB (they have a lot of businesses including Manila Hotel, PhilTrust Bank, CEU, Mapua, Euro Med Lab etc.)but rather the employees, journalists and small people in the company. (take note, they have no fault.
I would like to see how this case would turn out. Pretty interesting, and I agree to what Bryan has pointed out about fair use.
Hmn… so its payback time huh.
Any update? What happened in the end?
The newspaper filed a counter suit against photographer and blogger Anton Sheker.
That’s not the “end”, that’s the “beginning”! This is a story about the countersuit
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