Media Education & Film
Intellectual Property: Case Study 2
Samsung Sorry for Using Photographer’s Nikon Photo in Advertisement:
Samsung found itself in an embarrassing copyright infringement controversy after the company published a street photographer’s work without permission as an advertisement on its Facebook page. The photograph was actually shot using a Nikon camera.
Singapore-based Photographer Danny Santos II noticed this image shared on Samsung’s Facebook page with the text, “Crisp. Cinematic. This street shot is taken by one of our Samsung photographers! Share your own Singapore Street Shot photo. Who knows, it might just win you a Samsung NX300!” He then posted on his own Facebook page to protest the infringement.
Samsung took a quick and public action. About an hour after Santos’ post, he received a call from Samsung that said the company was investigating the matter. Apparently one of the photographers that had been commissioned to shoot with the NX300 had submitted Santos’ photograph to the marketing agency running the promo.
Read the articles here:
The same photo on Santo’s website:
Santo’s Facebook post:
A quick peek at the EXIF data reveals that it wasn’t captured with a Samsung mirrorless camera at all, but rather with a Nikon D700 DSLR: