Copyright Metadata Ruling Prompts Licensing Warning to Artists

The Eleventh Circuit’s adoption of a heightened standard that makes it harder for copyright owners to win certain Digital Millennium Copyright Act lawsuits has important implications for digital artists licensing their work, attorneys say.

The Aug. 12 ruling of first impression established a high bar for a travel photographer to show that a visual content service wrongfully removed copyright management information, or CMI, from the metadata embedded in his photos of hotels and resorts. CMI—which usually identifies the author, their contact information, and the terms and conditions of use—has become a prevalent mechanism among artists to enforce their copyright protections. ...