Before we get started, we have to stress that we won’t be posting the image in question in this article, but you can view it here for reference. We don’t have permission to use it, but the header image, which is Creative Commons and thus fair to use, is from the same period – a time of Rose’s life when he wasn’t exactly, er, slim.
Right… on to the matter at hand. Google has, over the last couple of years, introduced a ‘right to be forgotten’ system that allows anyone to ask the search engine to remove anything to do with you from search results.
But if you want to remove single images or artworks for whatever reason, you can lodge a DCMA claim against Google. Essentially you’re claiming that an image or artwork has been posted on a specific site without your permission – filed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the US – and asking Google to remove it.
This is usually done through lawyers acting on a client’s behalf, and it seems that Guns ‘n Roses singer Axl Rose has enlisted the help of Web Sheriff to launch a DCMA claim against a Blogspot-hosted image of the singer from 2010.
Any GnR fan will know that 2010 wasn’t the most flattering year for the singer, as he was visibly overweight. It turns out that Rose now wants the image permanently expunged from the internet for all time.
According to Torrent Freak, the best way to get something removed “…is to issue a DMCA takedown notice to webhosts and platforms such as Google, Facebook and YouTube. Millions of these requests are sent and processed every week.”
So it seems that Team Axl wants to remove any trace of the image from anywhere else except the Guns ‘n Roses website, and it will launch a DCMA against anybody that hosts the image. While Web Sheriff didn’t exactly give the real reason as to why the image has to be removed, one can only speculate that it has to do with the singer’s weight, which led to pictures like these doing the rounds.
Rose has been thrust into the limelight again, as he recently got the top job as the (replacement) lead singer for AC/DC. By some accounts, he’s doing a pretty good job of it.
But the image has also brought on a rather interesting debate as to who owns the copyright to the image. Web Sheriff claims that the copyright rests with Rose, as the photographer Boris Minkevich allegedly signed a Photographic Release, while Google is of the opinion that Minkevich is the rightful owner of the work as he was the one to create it.
“We can gladly confirm that all official / accredited photographers at [Axl Rose] shows sign-off on ‘Photography Permission’ contracts / ‘Photographic Release’ agreements which A. specify and limit the manner in which the photos can be exploited and B. transfer copyright ownership in such photos to AR’s relevant service company,” Web Sheriff told Torrent Freak.
It will be interesting to see who wins this battle, but Minkevich isn’t too thrilled that his image has been turned into a meme about food over the years.
“Either way the photo was stolen off our website with no permission granted by the Winnipeg Free Press,” he concluded to Torrent Freak.
[Via – Torrent Freak, image – CC by 2.0/Ed Vill]
