NPR reporter Cheryl Corley reported today on Corbis Corporation’s continuing battle with the estate of James Brown.  Corbis licenses more images than Bill Gates has pennies, but its license to use images of Mr. Brown are limited to the copyright in the image, not any underlying rights of publicity. That means that you may license copyright from Corbis to use an image of Mr. Brown, but if you make any commercial use of it, you could be liable to the Mr. Brown’s estate.

The interesting aspect of this case is the estate’s claims that by making the images available for a license fee, Corbis also ismaking commercial use of Mr. Brown’s images.  Corbis scoffs at the idea noting that image banks have never been liable for the improper uses made by end users and that the estate should pursue any infringing end users, not a legitimate and legal stock image bank. 

However, the 4th division of the Illinois Court of Appeals refused to dismiss the action noting that,

“In light of the vast difference of opinion regarding the interpretation of the definition of what Corbis sells and the legal effect of such sales, we cannot say that the facts are undisputed that Corbis’ display of the photos of James Brown on its Web site did not in some way constitute an improper commercial use under either the Illinois common law or the Publicity Act.”

Moral of the story–always get a model release when you createan image of someone.  In the alternative, when you license an image from a third party, find out what releases or licenses they have obtained before making any commercial use. 

(For a great discussion of copyright versus publicity rights, read Carolyn E. Wright’s Photo Attorney blog.)

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