The Daily Mail is reportedly facing another lawsuit over copyright infringement, after a photographer spotted that a number of his images were featured in the paper without his permission.
The article in question was a World Cup special about the wives and girlfriends of the England squad. The Daily Mail published the article on 2nd June alongside images of the WAGS, including one of Gareth Barry’s wife Louise. Photographer Ian Richardson alleges that the image was taken by him at the couple’s wedding, but the paper credits the photo to David Hitchins from Capital Pictures.
Richardson didn’t realise the picture had been published until he saw it used again, this time in New Magazine. According to the British Journal of Photography (BJP), New requested the photo from Capital (after seeing it in the Mail) but they were unable to track it down in their archives. Although both Capital and Richardson said they informed the Daily Mail of the wrongly credited image, the picture was apparently still displayed on the Mail Online website.
Although the publishing industry is one notoriously associated with legal risk – which is why so many publications take out professional indemnity cover for copyright infringement and defamation cases – the Daily Mail has experienced more than its fair share of litigation over photographers’ copyrights.