After being served the law suit, we’ve been working this entire past year on trying to resolve this. Nothing myself or my lawyers have done have seemed to satisfy Mr., Mackie or his lawyers. If he wishes this to end as much as I do, as he mentions, he might wish to make that clear to his lawyers. more ›

Mackie disputes the amount of the suit - Hipple said he expects to be sued for $60,000, and in an email to CHS Capitol Hill Seattle, his lawyers stated that they believe the suit would be between $30,000 and $80,000. Mackie says those figures are a "fantasy," that "no one is talking numbers," and that he'll be happy with getting his legal fees covered. Yes, anyone can make a photograph of my work. What they can not do is use my work for their profit without any contact with me...(Hipple) is playing pretty loose with the facts here and in many other claims. more ›

Unfortunately, Mackie is now suing Hipple for copyright infringement and claiming over $60,000 in damages over the photograph — which, we should point out, shows only a small portion of Mackie's sculpture. This is a photography of a public sidewalk that shows public art paid for by public funds. It would seem that such an image would be covered under fair use, the legal concept that allows a certain amount of reproduction of someone else's work. Fair use allows a book reviewer to run short passages in their reviews, and film critics to show scenes from the films they're critiquing on their websites. more ›