Updated 07-10-11 later in the day.
This will be a short blog. I am upset. A man I have known for years, Jay Maisel, a photographer with whom I had the honor of serving on the national board of ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers), a world-wide organization of photographers, has been the victim of copyright infringement. When he justly sued, the infringer, a world-class creep, responded by vilifying Jay.
It’s a nasty story. Please read all about it in Jeremy Nicholl’s blog.
Jay does not deserve any of this. I think most of you know how hard I fight for Copyright issues. Jay Maisel has fought for those issues a hundred times harder than I. He is like a bulldog about them, and rightfully so.
The article is quite telling. People work in the bubble of cyberspace often without reality checks. The creep in the article is just such an example. If he doesn’t like what people say, he castigates them, makes libelous statements against them, hardly what most people would call appropriate behavior from someone from a large west-coast firm.
What galls me the most is that he doesn’t even have the you-know-whats to use his own name. Instead, he hides behind a pseudonym.
Jay Maisel is one of the most upstanding people I know. He is a family man who has worked really hard for what he has achieved, and that includes awards up the wazoo with his works in museums and collections all over the world. That does not mean he suffers fools lightly, and the person with whom he is now dealing is a fool, and a dangerous one.
I do not envy Jay this one, and I fervently hope the creep gets his just due and serves as a lesson to others that copyright is serious business.
What would any infringer of copyright say if someone waltzed into the driveway (also private property) and took his/her classic car, used it, sold it, and kept the money?
Of course, the reaction would be outrage.
“That’s my property! That’s theft!”
Absolutely!
Photographs belong to someone. They are someone’s property. Taking them and using them is theft, unless of course, one has explicit permission to do so from the photographer him/herself.
Why don’t people get it?
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I had the pleasure of spending ten days on a houseboat in the Amazon with Jay, as well as receiving a personal tour of his home in The Bowery. Jay is the most kind, giving person you could ever meet, always willing to share his (salty) opinions and his endless knowledge of art and photography. Anyone who has ever met this man and spent any time with him leaves feeling like they have met a humble legend. This current dispute is a simple one. Jay did what he did because he felt it was the right thing to do, not because of any monetary interests. He has also stayed on the sideline, as is consistent with his character. He is too interested in life and the people around him to brought down by the others. Jay is a special person and will emerge unscathed. Dave
Dave,
All you say is true about Jay, which makes the pot shots, slander, and property damage all the more onerous.
He does not deserve any of it.
Take care,
TBC
Sad to say, but neither Baio nor Hawk got it. They still didn’t think they did anything wrong. Funny thought, what if it were one of their photographs that someone else was using and making money. Would they not then yell foul and demand restitution. Don’t know either of these people as persons or photographers, don’t want to know them, won’t visit their websites to give them the justice of hits. Thanks Margo for the posting. Sorry Jay had to fight for what was his, but glad he did and won. More power to all of us that take treat our photography as art and our intellectual property.
John,
I hate it that Jay has gotten such hate attacks from people who don’t know any better and who have been swayed by the likes of people who ought to know better but don’t give a rat’s ass. Jay deserves much better than that.
Take care,
TBC