John Anastasi Quoted in The U.S. Sun Article: “PICTURE PAIN Cash-strapped parents using high-tech ‘workaround’ to avoid paying for class portraits – but is it legal?”

The risk can far outweigh the reward, according to John Anastasi, when parents choose to use AI to remove a watermark on their child’s class portrait proofs. Removing watermarks violates the Copyright and Digital Millennium Copyright Acts and could indeed break the law.

John spoke to Jacob Willeford, Senior Consumer Reporter for The U.S. Sun, about the practice, which is gaining traction on social media among parents sharing their money-saving “hacks”.

“Using AI to remove a photographer’s watermark and produce an unpaid copy can expose a parent to copyright infringement liability,” Anastasi explained.

“Calling the result ‘AI-generated’ does not erase the photographer’s rights. Nor does personal use automatically make it fair use, particularly when the purpose is to replace a photograph the photographer is selling.”

Read the full article on the-sun.com.