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The screen and sound poles (minus their audio boxes) at the Hilltop Drive-In Theater in Chester, West Virginia, which was once one of 75 active drive-in movie theaters in the state

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The screen and sound poles (minus their audio boxes) at the Hilltop Drive-In Theater in Chester, West Virginia, which was once one of 75 active drive-in movie theaters in the state

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Summary

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
The Hilltop opened in 1950 and went dark while operated by its second owner in 1984. It remained dark for five years and was then purchased by its former projectionist, who with his wife and daughter reopened it, with a full schedule of shows each summer and weekend shows in the springtime. This photograph was taken in May 2015, when there was no apparent sign of activity.
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/)

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Date

01/01/2015
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Contributors

Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
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Location

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Source

Library of Congress
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