In November, a federal court ruled that Corbis Corp. is liable for the loss of over 12,000 images taken by photographer Chris Usher. Usher sued Corbis in 2003 for damages when the agency failed to return all of the images he took on assignment in 2000 to 2001.

Though Usher had no record keeping method, he hired archivist Adrienne DeArmas to conduct a review. Corbis claimed that no more than 5,349 images were lost, but the court sided with DeArmas' calculation of 12,666 images.

In May 2005, a separate ruling had also favored a photographer against Corbis for losing about 40,000 images.

Amid this controversy, Corbis is expected to lay off 125 employees and close several offices...

Former Corbis executive William Radcliffe has been appointed as the new chief technology officer for the Science Faction company in Bellevue, Wash. He will work closely with the current staff and CEO Roger Ressmeyer to advance the global online accessibility of Science Faction.

Radcliffe has been with Science Faction since January 2005 as a contract photographer and has served as...

Gary Shenk has been promoted from senior vice president of images at Corbis to the organization's top position.

In his role as president, Shenk will be responsible for a realignment of the company's marketing strategies, and will supervise sales and creative resources.

In addition, Shenk will continue to direct the...

In the first half of this year, Corbis posted a 16 percent rise in revenues compared to the same period in 2005, but it is not expected to turn a profit this year, according to CEO Steve Davis.

The stock agency cited rising image prices as reasons for the revenue growth in the first six months of 2006, but also noted that it continues to lose money due to investments in technology and new content.

Corbis' rights-managed revenues were up 8 percent compared to the same period last year, despite the fact that...

Getty Images and Corbis have become charter sustaining members of the Picture Licensing Universal System Coalition, while Jupiterimages has committed to a second year of sustaining membership.

The participation of the three stock agencies is a measure of the industrywide commitment to create international licensing standards,including a universal licensing language that is easy to understand and use...

In April, Getty Images acquired Pixel Images Holdings Limited, the Irish parent company of Stockbyte and Stockdisc, for $135 million. Most of the content licensed under the Stockbyte and Stockdisc brands through a worldwide network of distributors is already available on www.gettyimages.com, with the remainder to be added by midyear.

Despite an aggressive acquisition strategy over the past 18 months, its holdings now include Photonica, Digital Vision, Medio Images and iStockphoto, the company recently lost standing...

At its annual meeting in late April, Corbis released details of the privately held company's financial performance for 2005 and its goals for the remainder of 2006. The company reported a revenue increase of 34 percent over the previous year, for a total of $228 million. That figure, however, includes the acquisition of the European stock agency Zefa, which augmented revenues by approximately 30 percent.

In part due to the Zefa purchase, Corbis management announced that the company had failed to achieve the profitability projected at the 2005annual meeting. In order to attain its goals for this year, the company intends to expand...

Gary Shenk and Mark Sherman have been promoted to senior vice president positions at Corbis, while two other senior vice presidents, Jennifer Hurshell and Joe Barrett, have left the company.

As senior vice president, images, Shenk will supervise Corbis' image-licensing business. Previously he was a founder and general manager of FlixMix, a Universal Studios subsidiary.

Sherman has been named...

The national board of the American Society of Picture Professionals recently met in New York City for a retreat hosted by national president Eileen Flanagan at the Corbis offices. The goals for the meeting were to determine who ASPP is, where it is going and how it intends to get there. By the end of the day, the board had drawn up an outline for many elements of the organization, including the magazine, the web site, membership, chapter programs and the educational program.

Along with the motto "Building Community among Image Professionals," the board worked on a vision statement that better reflected who the group has become over the years and where it sees itself in the industry...

Santa Fe Workshops has established a scholarship fund in memory of Westlight stock agency co-founder Craig Aurness, who taught at the workshops in the early 1990s. The Craig Aurness Memorial Scholarship Fund, sponsored by Corbis, will provide two $1,250 scholarships annually to talented and deserving emerging professional photographers who wish to attend the weeklong workshops in Santa Fe. More information about the scholarship program is available at santafeworkshops.com.