Professional photographers, including some of the best known names in the business, have filed a class action lawsuit against Getty Images, alleging that their images were incorporated without their permission into Getty's new product "Premium Access."
According to the copyright attorney handling the case, Premium Access is not a rights managed product. Getty is not tracking the use of the photographers' images, and is not setting pricing per use in good faith on a commercially reasonable basis. Therefore, the photographers have lost the ability to track the uses being made of their images.
The photographs have allegedly been licensed by Getty to major media clients for as little as $2.08 for extensive, untracked use. This has severely undercut the market for comparable photographs, damaged the future market for these photographs, and violated both the Rights Managed Image Distribution agreements Getty signed and the Uniform Commercial Code.
