SINGAPORE – Two hotel administration companies had been found by the Large Court to have infringed on a US firm’s copyright to photographs of several luxury accommodations.
The businesses, which are component of the Common Resort Management Group (GHM), had used the images in 12 challenges of the group’s journal.
They experienced argued in court proceedings that the homeowners of the hotels held the copyright to the images.
But Justice Mavis Chionh disagreed, holding in her judgment on Thursday (June 16) that a firm set up by entrepreneur and designer Lee Kar Yin is the copyright proprietor.
GHM manages, operates and encourages luxury resorts and resorts all over the planet. Current homes include things like The Chedi Andermatt in Switzerland.
Ms Lee, who has been performing in the innovative market right here given that 1990, established up numerous companies to carry out her work. They contain The Wave Studio, which was integrated in the United States to maintain and deal with the mental house legal rights to her literary and artistic operates.
Between 1995 and 2008, Ms Lee and a few of her corporations were being engaged by GHM to supply a range of companies to a variety of inns managed by the group. These services included the manufacturing of marketing and advertising, branding and advertising materials for the resorts.
In the course of making the products, the organizations hired contractors to choose photographs of the hotels. These photos have been subsequently edited by Ms Lee, just before they were shipped to the accommodations and just one of the defendants – which was included in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) but has its principal location of business enterprise in Singapore.
Some time in 2012, Ms Lee identified that some of the pictures in the elements experienced appeared on the web-sites of numerous on line vacation companies.
She later on observed in 2013 that the photos ended up also made use of in 12 problems of GHM’s journal, which had been obtainable for download on its internet site.
These journal difficulties could also be discovered on other internet websites owned or operated by GHM organizations, and copies were dispersed to resorts managed by the BVI business and their company.
The Wave Studio then sued many companies – together with the BVI firm – for copyright infringement in the US.
The US court docket afterwards dismissed its claims in opposition to the BVI corporation, ruling in 2017 that Singapore would be the ideal forum to ascertain the copyright operator of the pictures.
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