Unfair Competition
“I really just like capturing the moments,” says Anthony Mazur, 16, a sophomore at Flower Mound (Texas) High School. He shoots a lot of photos, and the policy of the Lewisville Independent School District is that students own the rights to things they create, even at school. Selling his photos enabled him to buy his own high-end camera — but the school district has ordered him to shut down his photographic web site. Even though he owns the photos he takes, the school said he couldn’t profit from them. Then they said there was a “student privacy issue” when other students are depicted in his photos, such as at sporting events. And then they said he’s “abusing his special access” to the sidelines at sporting events. Yet “the school principals themselves are posting images of sporting events online,” Mazur says — “The same ones I’m going to.” He says school officials are “trying to coerce me [with] threats of in-school suspension. And making some weird comment about reporting me to the IRS.” (RC/WFAA Dallas) ...This is just a guess, but I’ll bet the adults at the school have a lot more to fear from the IRS than a 16-year-old.Story Update: Once graduated, Mazur sued the school district in federal court to establish once and for all that he owned the copyrights to his photos, as “Defendants’ conduct and policies have deprived plaintiff of his copyright ownership and exclusive rights in his original works, taken plaintiff’s property and deprived him of use of the same.” And if student privacy was an issue as claimed, then why was the school allowing the Booster Club to sell photos that included students? Mazur received support for his efforts from National Press Photographers Association.
Rather than go to trial the district capitulated, agreed not to try to force students to sign a “Work for Hire” agreement that would transfer copyrights of students’ photos to the district (Mazur refused to sign the one pressed on him), and acknowledged that he indeed owns the copyright to his own images. With that, Mazur withdrew his lawsuit, telling a reporter he got “all that we wanted.” In response, the school district claimed victory, saying they “are pleased Mr. Mazur and his attorney have voluntarily withdrawn their complain [sic] from the court.” Impartial observers roll their eyes at the tactic.
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 21.
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