US Postal Services sued over “Liberty” stamp
An artist is suing the US Postal Services (USPS) for copyright infringement, claiming a stamp depicting his model of the Statue of Liberty was distributed billions of times without his permission.
The USPS has been accused of using the image without authorisation on a range of its first class “Liberty” stamps.
It found the image, which showed a close-up of the statue's head and crown, from online picture forum Getty Images, in 2010.
However, unbeknown to USPS officials, the image in fact depicted a Las Vegas-based replica of the original New York statue, created by artist Robert Davidson.
Davidson is now claiming the image was uploaded to Getty without his permission and that he had not consented to its use.
In a complaint filed at the US Court for Federal Claims on November 27, Davidson says he is the sole owner of the rights to the Las Vegas statue’s image.
In 1995 Davidson was hired to create the re-make of the Statue of Liberty for a casino – the New York New York Casino – in Las Vegas.
The complaint says Davidson developed much of the statue “without referring to any existing works” and that the US Copyright Office had said it had “substantial differences” to the original, including a more feminine face and a commemorative plaque on its crown.
Davidson retained all rights as the sole owner of the statue and registered the work under the name of his company, PlasterTech.
The complaint says the image was uploaded to Getty Images by photographer Raimund Linke on an “unknown date” and given a different name on the image forum.
In 2010, the USPS purchased the image for its new issue of stamps and went on to distribute the image “around four billion times”, according to the complaint.
After being made aware of the mix-up, the complaint argues, the USPS said there was an “error” in the picture’s labelling but that it “would have chosen the [Davidson] image anyway”, saying that it “fell in love” with the design.
The complaint says that audiences giving feedback on Davidson’s statue found it "sexier" than the original, which in turn made the USPS continue to use it for its own “economical gain”.
“Upon information and belief defendants determined that it was in their financial interest to continue to infringe upon Davidson’s rights as the cost to discontinue the infringing activity exceeded the marginal cost of royalties,” argues the complaint.
The complaint adds that Davidson, who is seeking damages, is unsure how much he is entitled to but believes that the USPS has received “billions of dollars” from the infringing stamp.
This isn’t the first time the USPS has run into trouble over its use of copyrighted images. In September, WIPR reported that the USPS had been fined nearly $685,000 for using an image of an artwork depicting soldiers in the Korean War, created by artist Frank Gaylord without his permission.
