The NBA has sued the N.Y. Times Company for "selling a
collection of five of its photographs" from the '99 NBA
playoffs, "saying that the sale violated the terms of the
contract written on the back of the press passes of
newspaper photographers," according to Felicity Barringer of
the N.Y. TIMES. The photo collection, "part of a larger
offering of images" taken by N.Y. Times photographers and
sold on the Times' Internet site, includes NASA's moon
landing, civil rights struggles and images of what the
online brochure refers to as "the golden age of baseball."
The five-photograph basketball collection sells for $900, or
$801 for home delivery subscribers, and individual photos in
the collection "can be purchased for" $195. Barringer
writes that the "suit reflects a new battlefront in a
continuing struggle" between news organizations and sports
leagues and arenas "over the line between news gathering
protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution and
infringement of the property rights of the people paying for
and producing the events that journalists cover." NBA
General Counsel Richard Buchanan, on the suit: "Our view is
that The Times is selling photographs of N.B.A. game action
on their Internet site without our permission in violation
of their agreement not to do so. We've asked them to stop,
but they continue." Times Company Assistant General Counsel
George Freeman, on the NBA: "They claim that we can't sell
photographs -- on the basis of a credential that
photographers don't read, don't sign, and are forced to wear
to do their jobs. They love publicity, but not so immediate
that media could compete with their Web site or so historic
that media would compete with the N.B.A.'s desire to
monopolize all sales of products" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/11). The
images are for sale in the N.Y. Times "Online Store" at
http://www.nytimes.com/nytstore/photographs.index.html.
