Michael Moore In Legal Trouble With War Photographer

Michal Moore is about to be sued by a celebrated war photographer over his online use of an image.

Independent correspondent Michael Yon took a photo, voted by Time readers the top photo of 2005, of a soldier cradling a bloody, injured Iraqi girl who died shortly thereafter. Moore used the photo without permission on his website michaelmoore.com.

The NY Post reports:

Yon has tried to contact Moore for seven months to discuss his unauthorized use of the poignant snap, but hasn't heard a word back from the director of "Fahrenheit 9/11." Now, the fed-up photojournalist has told his lawyer to ready a lawsuit against Moore for copyright infringement.

The misappropriated photo shows US Army Maj. Mark Bieger cradling an Iraqi girl wounded by car-bomb shrapnel. She died a short time later.

"The implication on Moore's Web site was that our soldiers were somehow responsible for that kid being wounded," Yon's lawyer, John Mason, told Page Six. "That is absolutely not true. She was the victim of an insurgent's car bomb." Yon said: "I've never sued anyone in my life. It looks like Mr. Moore might be the first." Page Six e-mailed Moore for his response, but he didn't get back to us, either.

On his website Yon blogged about it and asked for help funding his fight:

If Mr. Moore and his counsel continue to ignore our correspondence, we will proceed with a lawsuit.

This lawsuit, though, should not be a distraction from combat reporting; the proceedings should be easy and require almost zero hands-on work from me. But it will be potentially costly. I've never sued anyone in my life. Looks like Mr. Moore might be the first. I told one very important person recently about the possible upcoming lawsuit and he said something like, "Someone should drive a stake through that guy's heart." It won't be that bad, but copyright cases are interesting and we have to deal with them often. If you want to help me as I both prepare to return overseas and take on this lawsuit with Mr. Michael Moore, please hit the PayPal button.

SEE THE PHOTO HERE

Comments

[mrskorn]

Moore is a rich movie maker who twists facts to add drama to his movies. Google his investments and you will see he is not so granola as you think.

[Cybersquirt]

"The implication on Moore's Web site was that our soldiers were somehow responsible for that kid being wounded," Yon's lawyer, John Mason, told Page Six.

What a maroon. I guess they need all the money (to sue Moore) they can get.

[blah1862]

Yon has never sued anyone. It's not about the money, it's about Michael's perversion of the truth.

[PoliticalAmazon]

I don't get it. If I saw a picture of a U.S. soldier carrying a wounded child, I would assume the soldier was taking the child either to safety or to receive medical care.

I mean, if you're going to kill someone you don't go carrying the body around with you, do you?

[Cybersquirt]

he's trying to provoke people.. think about who bad-mouths Moore and people like him...

[sssteverrr]

There were no car bombs going off in Iraq before our preemptive invasion. If American soldiers had not been in Iraq, that little girl would not be dead.

We have replaced predictable and avoidable death and destruction under Sadam with random and unavoidable death and distruction under the American occupation. The poison gas that Sadam is described as a villain for using against his own people was priovided by the United States.

The implication that our soldiers were responsible for the little girl being wounded is true.

[BlackWidowPilot]

"The implication that our soldiers were responsible for the little girl being wounded is true."

Absolute garbage. Our GIs and Marines have been sent in to do a frankly impossible task; that so many of them have done as well as they have managed to do under the circumstances, from the grim, bloody realities of a COIN op to defective body armour, unarmoured Humvees, Cheney-crony KBR serving up rotting food and contaminated water, to dodging IEDs and hoping and praying that KBR didn't provide their camp's electrical work as they step into the damned shower, it is a wonder that more of them haven't simply snapped than reportedly have.

Give the credit where it is due, "sssteverrr," where it belongs, in the laps of George W. Bush and and his fellow "Busheviks" of the rogue regime We The People have been forced to endure these past eight years from Hell thanks to two stolen elections.

END PART I

[BlackWidowPilot]

PART II

That poor child died because a clack of war criminals including but not limited to "The Decider," his pal "Deadeye Dick" Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Powell, and others all signed on to the PNAC blueprint for oil and empire, and spun over 900+ *documented* lies about WMDs and debunked claims of connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 to get their way.

We The People were lied to, as was the whole world. Not enough of our fellow Americans saw through the lie, and enough of the so-called Democratic opposition lacked the backbone to roar "NO YOU DON'T!" to this bloody scam.

Give credit where credit is due.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[whatevahs]

You're right, before the invasion Iraq was a peaceful land of magic and happy dreams where unicorns drank from chocolate streams and children played with balloons and kites in the streets. Where the country's leader tortured, maimed, raped and killed anyone who disagreed with him or opposed him. Where that leader's sons tortured members of Iraq's Olympic teams if they didn't win medals. Where one of those sons would randomly kidnap young girls off of the street, rape them and often dispose of their bodies and none of their families could do anything because that wonderful, kind and loving leader owned the police. Iraq was a splendid country where being from the wrong tribe or the wrong area of the country could get you shot, blown up or gassed. A wonderful country where political dissidents could expect to watch their wives raped and their children brutally murdered before their very eyes.

You're right sssteverrr, Iraq was OBVIOUSLY better before we got there.

[TomAmitai]

In a way, "we" "got there" in 1959, when "we" backed Saddam's attempted assassination of Qassim. And, let's not forget how "we" sent Donald Rumsfeld to shake his hand in 1983, while "we" knew he was using chemical weapons against Iran and the Iraqi Kurds.

[Cybersquirt]

The soldiers are merely the pawns put into play.

[Plews]

You go, Mike!
200 years from now kids will read about you in their American history books and visit the Moore Memorial in Washington D.C.
Truth-teller and American patriot!

[canadiansoccermom]

Hit the PayPal button eh?

[Okieborn]

A Picture Is a Picture GO Michael !!!

[alainv]

I geuss this photagrapher is more interested in making a buck then exposing the horrors of war . Is he giving part of his proffits to the familys of the victims he is exploiting ? If he isn't doing that then he is standing on some very weak moral high ground indeed .

[PoliticalAmazon]

Neither Moore or Yon are 100% right or wrong.

MOORE:
Unless there are circumstances we don't know about, Moore was wrong to use internet content without first asking permission, paying for the right (if required), and then posting credit and link-back near the picture. It's stealing. When my website was up and fully operational, I would find other webites who had copied the entire content (removing any reference to me) and posted on their website, with requests for donations--going to the theif-- under each article. Moore is a published author. He should understand the issue.

I can't imagine why Moore hasn't answered Yon's inquiries. I can see nothing that Moore would benefit from by NOT answering it and clearing up the issue. I know that websites get thousands of emails each day. In addition, we don't know how Moore received the work. Someone could have copied the picture and gave it to Moore, claiming to be the photographer, and giving Moore "permission" to use the photo. This may seem strange to you, but people will do bizarre things to ki$$ up to someone they perceive to be a celebrity.

(Cont'd)

[PoliticalAmazon]

In the case of the theft of my website's content, if the website's owner didn't answer my demands to cease and desist the theft of my work, I would contact the person/company providing the plagerer server space and internet access; they can escape liability of one of their server's clients steals another person's work and publishes it on the server, but ONLY if the company is very proactive in addressing claims of plagiarism.

YON:
If you go to Yon's website, no where is there any indication that his work is copyrighted. Nowhere is there information about purchasing the rights to use any of the content on the website. His name and/or his website name is't even on the pictures.

If he had been experiencing a problem with Moore for years, you would think Yon would have become more proactive in stopping future theft of his work.

I don't think Yon has contacted the owner; otherwise, the owner of the server would have immediately delt with it.

Here's the Whois lookup info for that domain:

IP Information for 66.36.252.57
IP Location: United States Seattle Hopone Internet Corporation
IP Address: 66.36.252.57
SSL Cert: localhost.­localdomai­n SSL Certificate has expired.
Blacklist Status: Clear

Whois Record
OrgName: HopOne Internet Corporation
OrgID: HOPO
Address: 3311 South 120th Place
City: Tukwila
StateProv: WA
PostalCode: 98168-5125
Country: US

ReferralServer: rwhois://r­whois.hopo­ne.net:432­1

[Tyrione]

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/littlegirl/bieger-and-farah.jpg

Copyright © Michael Yon 2005.

Looks like Michael has fixed it and most likely settled with the guy.

[lthuedk 1]

Yon's lawyer is wrong. Had we not launched a criminal preemption on an innocent country that bomb would not have been there. Get another lawyer; that one is green.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/neocon_terrorism.html

[YooperLib]

Speaking of photographs, this is the first I have ever seen of Michael Moore where he wasn't wearing a stupid hat and has a shave. Thank you HuffPost.

[vonkoln]

Thank you Michael Moore for all you do to help people--now How about a new movie involving people like Ann Coulter and her group of terminological inexactites. Hope this problem goes away.

[Earl]

This story would be interesting except for one thing...the photo isn't really on Michael Moore's web site.

[Bec01]

That is what I am saying. The NY Post does not have a great reputation of getting stories correct. They are nothing more than a tabloid magazine. Why this is still up, I don't know.

[Drumbum2112]

Most of this story is not true and it deliberatly leaves out critical information. The US Army released this photgraph for publication and thousands of people published this photo. All without talking to or paying Yon anything. What's different about Moore? Rightwinguts hate him and Yon knows playing that card will get them to send him money.

"Hit the paypal button" that is what this is all about. He singled out Moore for his ability to draw attention, you winguts are being played just like faux news or Limbaugh, they say whatever it takes to stir up the hate and make money from the sheep.

This is also NOT Yons first time in court. Besides being charged for killing a man in a barfight, (he was not convicted), he alos sued the Army once for releasing this exact picture. The right came to his defense and made a fuss unitl the Army backed down.

This story was released and deliberatly written to stir up people with half tuths and lies.

[thaneb]

Thanks for the additional information. Do you have a url for your source? Thanks again.

[PoliticalAmazon]

Thanks for the additional information. It's clear the issue was not stopping the use of the photographer's picture. As I said previously, contacting the owner of the hosting server will get it straightened out immediately. If the person doesn't take it down immediately, often the hosting server's owner will turn off internet access to the website.

[whatevahs]

Moore yanked the photo off as soon as this came up. Like a spoiled little brat caught with his hand in the cookie jar who stuffs the cookie in his mouth and then says, "What cookie?"
Typical slimy, sneaky Moore.

[Bruupo]

'"The implication on Moore's Web site was that our soldiers were somehow responsible for that kid being wounded," Yon's lawyer, John Mason, told Page Six. "That is absolutely not true. She was the victim of an insurgent's car bom.b."'

And we all remember how common those insurgent car bom.bings were before the US invasion...

Was the "implication" that the specific soldiers in that photo had been directly responsible for the girl's wounds, or that the little girl would never have been wounded in a car bomb if the US hadn't invaded her country?

Two very different sentiments, the latter lends itself to "implication" much more the former, and the latter one is undeniably true. It would take a good amount of irrational bias to read an accusation of the latter type as the former type- the kind of "you can't criticize the war in any way because you'll be criticizing our troops" false umbrage that we're all sick of, including a lot of troops.

I'm not finding this on Moore's site at the moment, so I can't check the wording, but I know which one I think is more likely. Anyone have the actual caption/text handy?

[adamsmith3]

As someone once said about Moore, who I now forget but wish I did, "if you're going to complain about a society falling prey to the excesses of capitalism it helps to not fly a private jet around and weight 400 pounds."

[BlackWidowPilot]

Yes, by all means, kill the messenger for bearing unwelcome news.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[odan]

Ya, that's because The Michael Moores and Al Gores of the world are charlitans, and i'm not sure how they get so many losers to believe there BS.

[Drumbum2112]

Im an guessing from your post that there are many many things you're "not sure how".

[madisonhack]

Another graduate of the G.W. Bush School of Grammar.

"There" as in "there it is", commonly misused to denote "their", as in "Iraq - we know it was their mistake". You should revisit the school for remedial studies.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Charlatans? Oh, you mean like these:

http://www.armchairsubversive.org

Charlatans indeed.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Bec01]

see the rock that many is living under has been lifted and they have come out rear their ugly heads.

What the heck does bringing up the fact that many other countries, including CUBA have better health care than America. .. Oh my god, you mean America is not the best at everything .... I just can't believe it. Have to do with his weight or the fact that he flies a private jet? Oh smart one please make the connection for me.

[CologneCitizen]

Michael Moore never was anything but a medicocre film maker who cashed in big on the existing Bush hatred. He takes headlines, news, pictures, interviews etc. blends half truths with truth and the outcome is propaganda for the lowest denominator of that political direction. I am not saying everything in his films is wrong, but most of it was known before to the interested observer. I don't blame him for having struck a gold mine. What I don't like about him is his attitude thinking he is beyond criticism. I find it hilarious the little people in America think he "stood up" to the Bush administration, pathetic.

[LorettaSingbiel]

"Michael Moore never was anything but a medicocre film maker who cashed in big on the existing Bush hatred."

There wasn't much "Bush hatred" when Michael Moore began to "cash in big". He, along with our WONDERFUL 44th President, have ALWAYS said that the INVASION & OCCUPATION of Iraq that BUSH & his partners in crime "cashed in big" was IMMORAL & CRIMINAL!!!

As "Bruupo" stated a few posts up ... "we all remember how common those insurgent car bombings were before the US invasion".

It is OUR PRESENCE in Iraq that CAUSED that INNOCENT CHILD'S DEATH! Yet THAT doesn't seem to bother the PHONY "right-to-lifers in OUR country???

Michael Moore is a TRUE PATRIOT of OUR country...and I THANK him!!!

[SERGIOUK]

Micheal moore was attacking the Establishment way before Bush got his head in the White House. He happens to be good at what he does so slating him is just plain pathetic.

[BlackWidowPilot]

"..the little people in America?" From your screen name, am I right in thinking you're in Cologne, Germany?

Still haven't shaken your cultural snobbery I see, still haven't learned a damned thing about what the following phrase really means:

"...That all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain, inalienable rights..."

If you are in fact in Germany, you enjoy a universal healthcare system dating back to Kaiser Wilhelm II. As one of the 47 million Americans shut out of affordable healthcare, I can assure you that We The People do not enjoy such a system, as a self-appointed aristocracy of the moneyed corporations has worked round-the-clock to stifle dissent, buy our elected officials, and functionally kill thousands of our fellow citizens yearly by denying them healthcare that Europeans can take for granted, for no other cause than boundless avarice.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[USLabor]

I guess the ignorant Cologne Citizen has never seen "Roger and Me", an excellent documentary made well before the Bush era (error).

[BlackWidowPilot]

"...the little people?" By that, mein herr, do you mean the 47 million Americans including myself who have been shut out of affordable healthcare, the better to serve the *profit margins* of corporate insurance company CEOs?

It fascinates me from a clinical perspective how a resident of Germany who enjoys a superb national healthcare system can presume to issue blanket and frankly unsubstantiated criticisms of an American film maker who champions social justice for his fellow Americans.

Mr. Moore has no "attitude thinking he is beyond criticism," mein herr. He does however demonstrably demand of his critics that they actually *get their facts straight* rather than resort to lies, distortions, and ad hominems such as Sanjay Gupta et al.

Fascinating exchange that, between Herr Doktor Gupta and Mr. Moore. It was CNN -Gupta's employer- that had to issue multiple retractions, not Mr. Moore.

"Facts... are difficult things..." - John Adams

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen