Getty Images has sued Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) over its new tool, Bing Image Widget, calling it a “massive infringement” of copyrighted images, Reuters news agency reported. Getty images filed a lawsuit against the tech giant in a court in New York On Thursday. Getty Images has the biggest online repository of photos, comprising of more than 80 million photographs.
Bing Image Widget was released by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) on August 22. This tool allows the website owners and publishers to embed digital photographs on their website. According to Reuters, Getty Images claims that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s new tool does not take images from any licensed or purchased pool of resources rather it choses from billions of photos available online without taking into account their copyright status.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) touts its new tool to be empowered with Bing Image Search which will provide its users with “beautiful, configurable image collages and slideshows.”
“In effect, defendant has turned the entirety of the world’s online images into little more than a vast, unlicensed ‘clip art’ collection for the benefit of those website publishers who implement the Bing Image Widget,” the lawsuit was cited by Reuters.
Getty Images has also claimed that the new service from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has done it an “incalculable damage” and has appealed the judge to immediately reward it with an unspecified amount of damages, the source added.
A Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s spokeswoman was quoted by Reuters as saying in an e-mail statement that the company will take a “close look” at Getty’s concerns. She added that being a copyright owner itself, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) thinks that laws regarding copyright ownerships are very important.
Jeffrey Ubben‘s ValueAct Capital is one of the biggest shareholders of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), having more than 74 million shares of the company.
Disclosure: None
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