Daniel Morel

I have to say that I am very impressed by how Daniel has gone about with his case, thus far. I know that he has been through a lot, and there are many more battles to fight, before he gets to the end of this particular matter. That said, hat's off to him for how he has conducted things thus far, and I wish him and his legal team all of the best.

The importance of this particular case cannot be overstated, and serves as a reminder that your creative works is inviolable, even in the new electronic frontier. It has real value, and that you need to fight and push for that value every single day, with everything that you have at your disposal. Believe me, if it had no value, the Gettys and AFPs of the worlds would not be fighting so hard on the opposing side.

We live in an era where the forces for free are pushing at every level (law making, commerce, legal, distribution etc.) to devalue your work and your ownership of such work. It doesn't serve their business model to allow you to claim perpetual ownership to your creations, nor does it serve them to allow you to manage how that work is used. They want it to be free and to be used by anyone, because the more stuff that goes flying around the internet, unhindered, the more money they make.

We also live in a world where the large-scale purveyors of photographic content have participated in this devaluation. Now, we stand witness to the behavior of two such purveyors, Getty Images and Agence France Presse, as they use the entirety of their financial muscle to attempt to wrestle fundamental rights from a lone photographer…. This is how little regard these businesses seem to have for the very business that they are in. They should have settled this matter, without contest, on the very day that they recognized that they knowingly distributed someone’s work without their permission. Makes you wonder how often they commit this particular offense, that they would put so much money and resources into denying what we all know to be true.

So, to circle back, I am really impressed by Daniel, his defense team and their tenaciousness in prosecuting this wrong. Along with everyone else, I can only hope for a positive outcome, as the alternative will be devastating to the collective interests of all content creators.

Good luck, Daniel