There is a lot of discussion in photo community on the internet about a patent from Amazon, which describes a very specific studio lighting setup for photographing products. People wonder why Amazon would apply for such a specific patent, that would be very difficult if not impossible to enforce, and very easy to go around with just some minor changes in the setup.

I believe the real reason behind this patent may be different from what we think. I think it’s to stop people from stealing images and using them in competing web shops. In case of a product shot, it’s almost impossible to prove that somebody copied your image. After all, the product is identical to any other copy of the product, and there is nothing else that distinguishes your image. If somebody simply distorts the image by only 1%, it’s virtually impossible prove it’s the same. Even the lighting doesn’t prove you took it, because any studio can setup the same lighting.

So that’s exactly where Amazon can use their patent: if you steal their images, they can sue you for patent infringement rather than stealing. They don’t have to prove you stole the image itself, they only have to show that ‘your’ image has the same lighting. That’s a lot easier to do.

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