copyright case

Greenberg vs. National Geographic Society (NGS)
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/copyright/copyrightcases/index.cfm#green

Greenberg and the National Geographic Society went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the eleventh circuit on June 7th (the year was not given). American Library Association (ALA) and library associations have a long history with this case. This case involves 1 CD-ROM that has photo scanned images of the entire National Geographic magazine from the year 1888 to 1996 in searchable format.

National Geographic magazine was sued by freelance photographers and writers for copyright infringement because some of their works are included in the CD-ROM that the National Geographic Society produced. A lower court found that the publication on the CD-Rom was allowed under the copyright act, but the U.S court appeals for the eleventh circuit revised the rule against the NGS.

In conclusion Greenberg’s case had major implications for projects that include pictures from famous people and scholar’s works. He proved that the public may have access to those materials.