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Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

arstechnica.com

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Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#31

Post by tehlike »

briandear wrote: post #30
runesoerensen wrote: post #5

I remember reading about this mess shortly after moving to the U.S. (and visiting Vegas for the first time). One thing that struck me about Vegas was an immense and everpresent feeling of fakeness. Seeing that fakeness reproduced on official stamps felt somewhat telling, and I've since entertained quite a few people with the story due to the sheer ridiculousness of it. I had no idea that they'd continue to use and se…

How is $3.5 million against a $70 million profit “ridiculous?”

Probably because if the original statue of liberty was used, it'd have made the same profit.

Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#32

Post by [deleted] »

balls187 wrote: post #8

> A sculptor who created a replica of the Statue of Liberty for a Las Vegas casino was awarded $3.5 million in damages last week after the US Postal Service (USPS) accidentally used a photo of his statue Wouldn't that imply that the copyright owner is actually the Casino, and not the sculptor? And if the USPS purchased a license to use a photograph, and Getty sold them the rights to use the photograph, wouldn't Getty…

[deleted]

Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#33

Post by dmurray »

balls187 wrote: post #8

> A sculptor who created a replica of the Statue of Liberty for a Las Vegas casino was awarded $3.5 million in damages last week after the US Postal Service (USPS) accidentally used a photo of his statue Wouldn't that imply that the copyright owner is actually the Casino, and not the sculptor? And if the USPS purchased a license to use a photograph, and Getty sold them the rights to use the photograph, wouldn't Getty…

> And if the USPS purchased a license to use a photograph, and Getty sold them the rights to use the photograph, wouldn't Getty bare some responsibility?

The USPS have to bear the responsibility first - the sculptor shouldn't have to dig into all of the USPS' business dealings before filing a lawsuit.

However the USPS have a contract with Getty in which either Getty misrepresented what they were selling, or the USPS did not read the contract correctly. In the former case USPS should be able to recover some of the loss from Getty, but it looks more like the latter.

Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#34

Post by whatsstolat »

leetbulb wrote: post #6
hhh wrote: post #3

Quite the interesting story, and a staggering surprise that 3.24% of bought but unused stamps is over $70,000,000 in revenue. Guy made out like a bandit. Good on 'em.

USPS is going to fold before I receive my package :(

Because they lost just 3.5m of 70m in pure profit?

Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#36

Post by xtrapolate »

> "Davidson sued, arguing that he was owed royalties for unauthorized use of an image of his statue"

Orthogonal, though can't help but wonder whether Davidson got Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's approval before re-creating an almost identical statue.

Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#37

Post by efa »

hirundo wrote: post #24

Have you seen the two faces side by side? https://tribzap2it.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/lady-liberty-... I quite prefer the original myself. The post office made an aesthetic as well as legal mistake. The older Lady Liberty is not as pretty, but she's more handsome. She's less symmetrical, more craggy. Her face has seen more pain and made more hard choices. I get an impression of character that I don't get from Vega…

Yeah, how cheesy that the US (the US!) post office used a Vegas statue instead of the one on Ellis Island. What were they thinking!?

Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#38

Post by Johnny555 »

efa wrote: post #37
hirundo wrote: post #24

Have you seen the two faces side by side? https://tribzap2it.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/lady-liberty-... I quite prefer the original myself. The post office made an aesthetic as well as legal mistake. The older Lady Liberty is not as pretty, but she's more handsome. She's less symmetrical, more craggy. Her face has seen more pain and made more hard choices. I get an impression of character that I don't get from Vega…

Yeah, how cheesy that the US (the US!) post office used a Vegas statue instead of the one on Ellis Island. What were they thinking!?

Probably "This looks like the statue of liberty". Unless I saw the photos side by side, I doubt I'd notice that the Vegas one was not legit or that it looked any different from the real one.

Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#39

Post by [deleted] »

balls187 wrote: post #8

> A sculptor who created a replica of the Statue of Liberty for a Las Vegas casino was awarded $3.5 million in damages last week after the US Postal Service (USPS) accidentally used a photo of his statue Wouldn't that imply that the copyright owner is actually the Casino, and not the sculptor? And if the USPS purchased a license to use a photograph, and Getty sold them the rights to use the photograph, wouldn't Getty…

[deleted]

Re: Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp

#40

Post by blfr »

xtrapolate wrote: post #36

> "Davidson sued, arguing that he was owed royalties for unauthorized use of an image of his statue" Orthogonal, though can't help but wonder whether Davidson got Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's approval before re-creating an almost identical statue.

The original was built in the 19th century. Even with all the ridiculous extensions, it surely isn't still covered by copyright.
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