RitzBitz

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has ordered stock photo agency Corbis Corp. to compensate two photographers for lost images in recent weeks, reports Photo District News . Photographer Arthur Grace won a $667,685 judgment on Jan. 30 for the loss of 45,000 images, while photographer Chris Usher was awarded $157,121 Feb. 29 for the loss of 12,640 of his images.

  The awards were the court’s estimates of income the images would have generated had they not been lost. Grace covered major news events, politics, sports and celebrities during the 70s, 80s and 90s. He submitted the images for worldwide distribution through Sygma, the French news photo agency acquired by Corbis in 1999, says the article. When Grace quit the agency in 2001, Corbis returned many of his images, but was unable to account for thousands more.

  The dispute was not over whether images were lost, but over the value to be awarded Grace. Grace was seeking $100 million for the loss of 67,000 images, while Corbis said the number lost and their value was lower. In late 2005, the court estimated that 40,000 images were lost and set damages at $472,000. Grace appealed that award as inadequate. The trial court then arrived at $677,685 — $300,960 for lost income in the past, $237,728 for interest on that amount, and $138,966 for lost income in the future. The exact number of lost images was unknown, but both sides agreed to set the number at 45,000. The calculations for the lost income were based upon an estimate of what the images were generating annually before they were lost. That estimate was $16,233, reports the article.

  The same court ruled that Corbis lost 12,640 transparencies belonging to Usher. The court set damages at $100,000 for lost income — both past and future — plus $57,000 interest on income lost in the past.