After a photographer who’s donated thousands of images to the public domain filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Getty Images for allegedly threatening her for using her own photos, the photo agency says it will investigate the complaint, and “vigorously defend” if need be. Last week, U.S. photographer Carol Highsmith filed a copyright complaint [PDF]…

via Getty Will Fight Photographer’s $1B Lawsuit For Selling Her Public Domain Images — Consumerist

How did Getty Inc. and Alany ever get ANY rights to the images in question?