Part of PICRYL.com. Not developed or endorsed by the Library of Congress
A portion of the ISG Weirton Steel operation, was once a fully integrated steel producer in Weirton, West Virginia, and one of the world's largest producers of tin plate products

Similar

A portion of the ISG Weirton Steel operation, was once a fully integrated steel producer in Weirton, West Virginia, and one of the world's largest producers of tin plate products

description

Summary

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
Founded by Ernest T. Weir in 1909 as Weirton Steel, the company later became part of the National Steel Corporation. In 1983, employees agreed to purchase the operation from National Steel and form into an employee-owned corporation. In the last years of its life, Weirton withered away and filed for bankruptcy protection on May 19, 2003. The International Steel Group purchased Weirton and formed ISG Weirton Inc. in 2004. ISG was sold to Mittal Steel, which in the two-thousand-teens was in the process of downsizing the mill.
Credit line: West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Purchase; Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc.; 2015; (DLC/PP-2015:055).
Forms part of: West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.

In 2015, documentary photographer Carol Highsmith received a letter from Getty Images accusing her of copyright infringement for featuring one of her own photographs on her own website. It demanded payment of $120. This was how Highsmith came to learn that stock photo agencies Getty and Alamy had been sending similar threat letters and charging fees to users of her images, which she had donated to the Library of Congress for use by the general public at no charge. In 2016, Highsmith has filed a $1 billion copyright infringement suit against both Alamy and Getty stating “gross misuse” of 18,755 of her photographs. “The defendants [Getty Images] have apparently misappropriated Ms. Highsmith’s generous gift to the American people,” the complaint reads. “[They] are not only unlawfully charging licensing fees … but are falsely and fraudulently holding themselves out as the exclusive copyright owner.” According to the lawsuit, Getty and Alamy, on their websites, have been selling licenses for thousands of Highsmith’s photographs, many without her name attached to them and stamped with “false watermarks.” (more: http://hyperallergic.com/314079/photographer-files-1-billion-suit-against-getty-for-licensing-her-public-domain-images/)

date_range

Date

2000 - 2020
person

Contributors

Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
place

Location

Weirton (W. Va.)40.41889, -80.58944
Google Map of 40.41888888888889, -80.58944444444444
create

Source

Library of Congress
copyright

Copyright info

No known restrictions on publication.

Explore more

west virginia
west virginia