USPS allegedly violated copyright law

Across the world, travelers and locals come across statues and other famous pieces of artwork. Unlike other works, it can be harder to protect the intellectual property of these pieces because they might belong to the public domain after the artist dies, Forbes Magazine explained.

Because of this, people are allowed to take photographs and reproduce these structures for personal or commercial use, but in this case, the Statue of Liberty may not be as readily available as the United States Postal Service thought.

In 2009, the USPS saw a photograph of Lady Liberty on Getty Images, a popular archive of photographs and decided to make the image into a stamp in 2011. Without putting much thought into it, USPS did not take into account that the image could have been of the other Statue of Liberty, which is located across the United States in Las Vegas, Nevada.

When Robert Davidson saw this widely-produced stamp, he soon realized that the image did not resemble the one on Ellis Island, but the one with had a "softer silhouette and fuller chin" that Davidson sculpted, the source added. The details may be subtle, but they are different enough to protect the structure's intellectual property.

Jess Collen, a contributor for Forbes discusses the fine line between using public works and copyrighted material—even if it was unintentional.

"[The USPS] sourced the picture from an online photography resource without realizing it wasn't the original," Collen wrote. "One of the many risks of stock photography is knowing exactly what you are buying."

Whenever an individual is using any sort of work, it is important to verify the source of the object in advance. If a business owner is unsure of how to find information on these types of works, there is an attorney for small business who can.

Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

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