Has anyone seen the storm brewing? The famous photo of Lee Rigby (Murdered outside Woolwich Barracks in 2013) in uniform has been removed from the .gov website after the photographer (Sam Szymanski) has started legal proceedings.
From reading the reports I understand the situation to be this:
* the photo was one supplied to Fusilier Lee Rigby’s family
* the family supplied it to the MOD
* the photo is now famous having traveled all around the world on internet news reports, tv news reports, and in print
* Szymanski maintains this was done without permission, he remains uncredited, and having tried several times to achieve a resolution with the MOD he feels forced to take legal steps
OUCH! I think everyone here understands the principle which Szymanski is applying, uncredited use of an image = loss of income. HOWEVER - in this case I see this backfiring on him very badly indeed. The murder was an event which caused a huge public reaction, the stress and distress his family have gone through (the loss of a loved one, a murder trial, disputes over a permanent memorial, etc) are on a scale which most of us would be hard pressed to understand, and I think the public are going to be very unsympathetic (to put it mildly!) to Szymanski starting down the legal route.
Thoughts?
From reading the reports I understand the situation to be this:
* the photo was one supplied to Fusilier Lee Rigby’s family
* the family supplied it to the MOD
* the photo is now famous having traveled all around the world on internet news reports, tv news reports, and in print
* Szymanski maintains this was done without permission, he remains uncredited, and having tried several times to achieve a resolution with the MOD he feels forced to take legal steps
OUCH! I think everyone here understands the principle which Szymanski is applying, uncredited use of an image = loss of income. HOWEVER - in this case I see this backfiring on him very badly indeed. The murder was an event which caused a huge public reaction, the stress and distress his family have gone through (the loss of a loved one, a murder trial, disputes over a permanent memorial, etc) are on a scale which most of us would be hard pressed to understand, and I think the public are going to be very unsympathetic (to put it mildly!) to Szymanski starting down the legal route.
Thoughts?
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