US Postal Service fined over stamp image
The US Postal Services has been fined nearly $685,000 for copying a war image onto stamps produced 10 years ago.
Frank Gaylord sculpted 19 soldiers in 2003, to commemorate the end of the Korean War (1950-53), in a work called The Column. A photo of the work was then used by the Postal Service for a special stamp marking the anniversary.
The Postal Service did not pay Gaylord for using the image and he sued for copyright infringement in 2007. A year later the Court of Federal Claims, which deals with monetary claims against the US government, rejected Gaylord’s claims on fair use grounds.
In 2010, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed that decision and directed the Court of Federal Claims to assess the level of damages owed to Gaylord. The court suggested the $684,844 sum on Friday 20 September.
The fine – believed to be the largest ever paid by the US Postal Service for using an image on a stamp – was based on a 10 percent royalty on sales of merchandise and stamps that were sold to collectors who did not intend to exchange them for postal services.
“We feel the Postal Service should have been, throughout this entire dispute, willing and able to share a small percentage of those sales with Mr Gaylord, and the royalty awarded is entirely consistent with his licensing practices,” said Heidi Harvey, of counsel at law firm Fish & Richardson, who represented Gaylord.
“On a personal level, I am very privileged to represent Mr Gaylord, a World War II veteran, who created from his experiences of war, his artistry, and energy, such an evocative and moving memorial to veterans,” she added.
In an emailed statement, a US Postal Service spokesman said: “The Postal Service respectfully disagrees with the court’s damages decision ... in which the court awarded the plaintiff an unprecedented royalty on postage stamp sales. The Postal Service, together with the Department of Justice, is considering whether to seek appellate review of this decision.”
Gaylord also sued the former marine who took the photo, before the pair settled the case out of court. Gaylord received a 10 percent royalty rate on any sales of the image.
