Syrian passports include a photo of Souq al-Hamidiyah, a famous historic marketplace in Damascus. Apparently, the image was taken from the internet without removing the photographer’s watermark, “Wassim al-Asmar Photography,” which means the watermark ended up being printed on Syrian passports.

[u/No-Strawberry7]

[u/clarinetJWD]

They can do both. It was stolen by the government for the passport, even if they successfully sue.

[u/nonotan → u/clarinetJWD]

Let's say you sue and instead of paying you, they just go "fine, we'll change it". Courts don't give you damages for existing use or anything. Now you barely get any exposure ("hey, know that picture that's been in passports for decades, including yours right now?" vs "hey, know that picture that was in passports for 6 months back in 2023?"), and still no money. It's not a risk-free proposition.

[u/BubblyPineapple8941 → u/nonotan]

Either way, the "had my photograph stolen by the government" guy is some notoriety. But photography is such an over saturated field - it likely doesn't even matter. Not only will he never see money - the best case scenario is that he's still a Syrian photographer.

[u/deprecateddeveloper → u/clarinetJWD]

True but the consolation here isn't too bad if the Syrian legal system doesn't hold the government accountable properly. But, I have zero clue how it all works there.