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

[SteveStephens]

the only thing that resonates with me, and has any meaning for me, is that poor dead kid.

[HotLeper]

First with the misleading numbers and now copyright violation. tsk tsk tsk.

[Cybersquirt]

Get yer facts straight, hmm? His numbers were right.

[BEHM777]

Dude, if you want to sue Michael Moore, that is your right/prerogative. However, don't go bumming for shillings to do it. That is just as tacky as what you are accusing Michael Moore of.

[Mort]

If his skin were a little more orange, Moore would look like a Jack-o-lantern

[daedelus]

Don't feel that just because you've written a comment, you have to post ti.

[daedelus]

It, dogdammit.

[PSM42]

Slow news day at HP? You know of course that MM can do no wrong so, even if your new Neo. con democrat staff were trying it on ...

[mollybeejay]

You mean he looks cleaned up. Before he was a mess.

[rabiddog6708]

See you in court, Shuuterbug. You snapped a picture...­..you didn't write a book or make a film.

[JulieSA]

He has a couple of books, and several years of articles covering the wars.

[williamina]

weird

[wamg]

I like Michael Moore, but if he used the photograph without permission, it looks like the photographer has a pretty simple case. A photograph is a copyrightable work of authorship. He has the rights to the photograph. If he has registered it with the copyright office, he can get monetary damages. If he has not, he can still stop the photograph from being used, if he can prove a couple pretty easy things in court. Mike should probably talk to the guy, this stuff isn't hard to straighten out.

[watchingthings]

I wonder what rights those in the photograph have. Surely, without them, there would be nothing to argue about.

[dryhole]

But he did write books and from Yon's post you will see what you will not see on the Huffington Post and most media unbiased reporting. A rarity among the war correspondents but Yon does give give grades to one NY Time reporter.
The photo was a prime example of the compassion so typical among the GIs that never gets any press but more importantly Moore committed the sacrilege of suggesting this was a result of American GIs and illegally used a copyrighted photo.. Moore could get by with this in the his favorite country Cuba.

[terrierist]

MIKE MOORE IN LEGAL TROUBLE...­. is a misleading headline that has the legally clueless assuming that Moore is wrong. I'm betting that Moore is NOT in any kind of trouble, that he is perfectly within his rights to use that photograph under the copyright law's fair use principle. I don't think this case will ever even get adjudicated.

[jimsey]

Maybe so, but the decent thing to do would be to respond to the photogs requests, even if to say he believes he had 'fair use' rights. Moore may be smart, funny, and usually correct about his facts, but he seems to have more than a wee bit of arrogance and self-righteousness about him.

[Bookman99]

What facts? The bank that he bullied for a photo-op that he used to portray said bank as though they normally did what he managed to convince them to do, regarding the rifle? The stitched-together "speech" of Charlton Heston?

Gullible much?

[PlaceboStudman]

I used to be a fan of Michael Moore, but honestly, lately I think the man needs to be knocked off his elitist high horse, simply in principle. The man owns a movie theater in Michigan where he prescreens all his films for his family and friends (and elite investors), before they are released to general distribution

[thaneb]

"elitist" burned out by overuse in the recent election. Nothing wrong with family and friends. And what makes the investors "elite"? Please provide a source.

[Prattvictory2]

Sounds like you needed a reason to label Moore an elitist and owning a movie was just the ticket. Does Rush, Bill O or Sean fit within your definition of elitist?

[evekendall]

And what do you think of the multi-mult­i-milliona­ires Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh..­. just regular working-class folks, huh?

[heal57]

huh? It's not bad to have money; he earned it.

[AmandaBC]

"'the man needs to be knocked off his elitist high horse"

Who are you, Sarah Palin?

"The man owns a movie theater in Michigan"

What's wrong with that?

"where he prescreens all his films"

What's wrong with that?

"for his family and friends"

What's wrong with that?

"and elite investors"

What's wrong with that?

Oh yeah, anyone who dares to use his brain --especially to criticize the status quo-- is an "elitist." That's what Sarah would say...

[Meds]

Let it go Yon, Michael Moor is a great guy who really really cares about all of us. Don't make a big deal about it.

[thaneb]

However, Yon is said to be a "darling of the right wing" and he has a book to sell. "No such thing as bad publicity" and in his circles this is probably very good publicity. Also, not much to "let go" at this point--it's only a threat of suit.

[Troyxx]

How intelligent (?) people can get all bent out of shape over this little farce is beyond me. Seriously, folks, get a life!

[gde]

Quoted in the article: "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."

That car bomb would not have been built or detonated if "our brave troops" hadn't invaded. They may not have pulled the trigger, but it is the same situation as the bank robbers who end up in a shootout, and a police bullet kills someone.

[JennieB]

Love the new, short 'do, MIchael. You look cute!

[Rivermont]

But he has to get rid of the serial killer glasses.

[NC1432]

Jennie, if you think Moore is cute, there is hope for all of us.

[canadiansoccermom]

"someone should drive a stake through that guy's heart".

That sounds personal to me. Not just copyright issues.

[gde]

The guilty need to justify their actions by blaming others. 1/8 in Iraq don't live to be old enough to play soccer? No big deal to them, they call it freedom when a foreign dictator creates or worsens the situation.

[awakeningnow]

actually is all about publicity