Texas Appeals Court Says Government Can't Be Sued For Copyright Piracy

guest · Jun 15, 2019

Texas Appeals Court Says Government Can't Be Sued For Copyright Piracy
Texas Can Steal Your Photos Without Paying for ‘Takings’: Court
June 14, 2019
https://petapixel.com/2019/06/14/texas-can-steal-your-photos-without-paying-for-takings-court/

Photographers were just dealt a big legal blow this week after a Texas state appeals court ruled that the state can infringe upon copyright without risking punishment under the state’s or federal government’s “takings” clause.

It all started when Olive, who’s known for his photos shot out of open helicopters, found one of his aerial photos (titled “The Cityscape”) of the Houston skyline being used by the university on its website to promote its C.T. Bauer College of Business. The photographer then sent the university a bill for $41,000 — $16,000 for the usage and $25,000 for removing his copyright credit.

After Olive sued the university, the university pushed for the case to be dismissed because the public institution has sovereign immunity, which protects state government entities from a variety of lawsuits. Olive’s side responded by arguing that the copyright infringement was an unlawful “taking” [...]

“Even if the government sets itself up as a competitor by producing a copyrighted work, there probably is not good reason to conclude automatically that the copyright has been ‘taken,' the three-judge panel cites in its ruling [...]
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“The Texas ruling affects more than just photographers,” NPPA writes in response to this week’s ruling. “It appears that a state entity could engage in broad piracy without being accountable.”
“It just doesn’t seem fair to me,” Olive tells the Houston Chronicle. “With this, they can just run rampant over copyright and take intellectual property with impunity.”
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Texas Appeals Court Says Government Can't Be Sued For Copyright Piracy

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