USPS ordered to pay $3.5M for using artist's Liberty statue on stamps

The United States Postal Service must pay sculptor Robert Davidson $3.5 million in damages for copyright infringement. Davidson sued the US government in 2013 after the USPS used his 1996 sculpture of the Statue of Liberty—created for a New York-themed hotel in Las Vegas—on millions of postage stamps without permission. Postal officials mistakenly believed the image, purchased from Getty Images, depicted the original 1886 statue, which is in the public domain. Despite realizing the error three months after printing, the USPS continued selling the stamps because they were popular and $8 million had already been spent on production. Judge Eric G. Bruggink of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that Davidson's version is an original work, noting that the faces are clearly different: Davidson's statue is "a little more modern, a little more feminine," softer and more contemporary. The court found copyright infringement in the USPS's unauthorized use.