April 7th, 2015
The BING/ Getty Images case has been settled as part of a “larger business deal” as reported by REUTERS on April 7th.
Comment: This is the common frustration of US case law as now the underlying copyright case remains unclear.
PREVIOUS UP-DATE on October 21st, 2014
The BING Widget issue has found a provisonary “Happy End”. Microsoft has removed the Widget and disabled the supporting code.Getty’s prelimary injunction has been denied but only on the face of Microsoft good will.
The copyright case continues.
It a wait and see situation now, as the original widget has been removed but a new one – a copyright compliant version – is in preparation.
Judge Denise Cote found that since …
- Microsoft had disabled the Widget and its underlying code promptly
- Microsoft asserted that they would not re-launch the Widget using non licensed content or content that is not in the public domain
- Microsoft says it does not intend to launch any similar Widget in the future
… no “irreparable harm” had been caused to Getty Images, justifying any preliminary injunction.
The denial of Getty Images’ injunction does not preclude, however, any decision on the copyright infringement case.
The copyright question is sill open. Now that the Widget has been removed the question is raised how the new version will look like.
