Images bring sites to life so it's not unusual to see texts accompanied by pictures to help drive a point home. Microsoft simplifies the process for site publishers with the help of the Bing Image Widget. But Getty Images is not pleased, filing a lawsuit against Microsoft Friday for massive copyright infringement of images.
Microsoft's image widget went live on Aug. 22, making it possible for site publishers to display images provided by Bing in a panel. The lawsuit claims that instead of displaying images from a pool of licensed photos, the Bing Image Widget simply draws on the multitude of images found on the internet. It doesn't discriminate whether or not a certain image is copyrighted.
"In effect, defendant has turned the entirety of the world's online images into little more than a vast, unlicensed 'clip art' collection for the benefit of those website publishers who implement the Bing Image Widget, all without seeking permission from the owners of copyrights in those images," the lawsuit said.
Microsoft countered by saying the company will look into Getty's concerns, admitting that as copyright owners themselves they think that laws on the topic cannot be ignored. The company has yet to comment on whether or not it acknowledges Getty's claims have merit.
Getty general counsel John Lapham said that his company has been talking with Microsoft for over a year regarding the decay of protection involving copyrighted images posted online. He adds that the Bing Image Widget goes beyond being a simple search tool because it actually lets site publishers embed images with copyright for their own commercial use without paying for anything. Not even an attribution is made for the original creator of the image.
Getty has a similar tool to the Bing Image Widget but the difference is that it can only be used for non-commercial purposes and also features attribution for photographers. Some may say that the lawsuit is just a way for Getty to deal with the competition but even without its own image embedding tool the company still represents over 80 million unique online images.
Getty is asking a judge in the U.S. District Court to order the immediately blocking of the Bing Image Widget and to award an unspecified amount in damages to the company. According to the lawsuit, Getty's injuries are incalculable. Bing's image widget is already in use in millions of sites all over the globe.
