Press Release

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), joined by the Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of America, the North American Nature Photography Association, Professional Photographers of America, photographers Leif Skoogfors, Al Satterwhite, Morton Beebe, Ed Kashi and illustrators John Schmelzer and Simms Taback, has filed a class action copyright infringement suit against Google, Inc. in the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York. The suit, which was filed by Mishcon de Reya New York LLP, relates to Google’s illegal scanning of millions of books and other publications containing copyrighted images and displaying them to the public without regard to the rights of the visual creators. ASMP and the other trade associations, representing thousands of members, decided to file the class action after the Court denied their request to join the currently pending $125 million class action that had previously been filed primarily on behalf of text authors in connection with the Google Library Project. The new class action goes beyond Google’s Library Project, and includes Google’s other systematic and pervasive infringements of the rights of photographers, illustrators and other visual artists.

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When Sigmund Freud wrote that the Uncanny (in German ‘Unheimlich’) was everything that ought to have remained hidden, but has come to light, it is tempting to imagine he had in the back of his mind the concealed (‘Geheim’) cameras that were in fashion during his early days in Vienna. Eighty years before subminiature ‘spy’ cameras became part of the Cold War secret agent’s kit, manufacturers in France and Germany were already experimenting with devices disguised as everyday domestic objects: books, binoculars, articles of clothing and, more surprisingly, revolvers.

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In the 1940s, Josephine Herrick was a budding photographer with a novel idea: put cameras in the hands of wounded WWII servicemen and guide them through the rehabilitative power of photography. On November 4 the Josephine Herrick Project, the organization that bears her name and fulfills her inspiration with today’s veterans, autistic children and others, will auction more than 40 dazzling images from celebrated modern photographers as a fundraiser. The 2013 Modern Masters in Photography Benefit Auction will take place at the Aperture Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, New York City. Tickets are $150 per person, available at http://jhproject.org/benefit/.

Despite a difficult economy, all major players will be on stage at Photokina and present the entire spectrum of products and services in the areas of modern image technology and image applications for consumers and professionals. The event's organizers — Koelnmesse and the Photographic Industry Association — estimate that over 1,300 exhibitors from around 50 countries will present their products and services in Cologne to more than 150,000 attendees from around the world.

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