The issue of Twitter?s TOS and how photo rights are handled came to light a few months ago when photographer Daniel Morel uploaded photos of the Haiti earthquake to Twitpic and then tweeted that he had ?exclusive photos? of the event. Lisandro Suero then took those same photos and posted them to his own Twitter and Twitpic accounts, also claiming exclusive rights. When a handful of major news agencies used the photos, they credited Suero rather than Morel and Morel did not get paid. The issue was then taken to court.</p> <p>In the case for the defence, AFP solicitors cited the part of the Twitter TOS which allows Twitter non-exclusive, royalty-free license to submitted content as justification for using the photos without paying for right to do so, saying ?this broad re-use is evidenced every day when Twitter/TwitPic posts are copied, reprinted, quoted, and republished by third parties.? However, US District Court Judge William Pauley disagreed, stating, ?The provision that Twitter 'encourage[s] and permit[s] broad re-use of Content' does not clearly confer a right on other users to re-use copyrighted postings.?</p> <p>The issue of Twitter?s TOS and its right to take our photos and use them as they will has been of major discussion since it first came to light. The findings in this court case are good news. Mr Morel can not only rightfully continue with his copyright claim, anyone using Twitter can feel a little bit better about what they agreed to when they decided to tweet.