TOP:
A short while ago, this site and many others, led by Stella Kramer at Stellazine, protested the efforts by insurance giant AIG and US Airways to suppress photographer Stephen Mallon’s Flight 1549 recovery pictures. Thanks to pressure from bloggers and from individuals, AIG and US Airways have relented, and allowed Stephen to publish the pictures again—with, in a few cases, the “US Airways” logo Photoshopped out of the pictures.
See the set at Stephen’s site (go to Portfolios —> BACK ONLINE! THE SALVAGE OF FLIGHT 1549).
The photos are fine, but the legal bullying is unbelievable. US Airways are making this doctoring of history out to be a copyright issue:
We are aware that a photographer would like to publish or sell photographs of the aircraft hull that may include our trademarks, service marks, etc., and we are currently seeking information from the photographer to determine if the photographs’ release or sale would violate the intellectual property rights of US Airways or otherwise interfere with the NTSB investigation of this accident.
On the one hand, I’m glad the photos are now available to the public. On the other, I’m not sure if the photographer should have put them out there with elements (in this case, logos) removed. These photos are the historical record; Stephen Mallon had almost unlimited access to the recovery, and his record of it is probably the most complete. If it’s really the case that the US Airways logo has been ’shopped out of the pictures, the public version is untrue.
