--- title: Amazon Patent for Photography Against a White Background description: And you thought you were soooooo original canonical: https://time.com/94083/sorry-wannabe-models-amazon-now-owns-the-patent-for-photography-against-a-white-background/ author: Bijan Stephen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-09T16:28:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:33.197Z og:title: Amazon Now Owns the Rights to 'Photography Against A White Background' og:description: And you thought you were soooooo original og:url: https://time.com/94083/sorry-wannabe-models-amazon-now-owns-the-patent-for-photography-against-a-white-background/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt533285724211640b/69868eb0e53aba4cd74d2814/185652491.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Amazon.com Illustrations Ahead Of Earnings og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Amazon Now Owns the Rights to 'Photography Against A White Background' twitter:description: And you thought you were soooooo original twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt533285724211640b/69868eb0e53aba4cd74d2814/185652491.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sorry, Wannabe Models: Amazon Now Owns the Patent for 'Photography Against A White Background' > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen May 9, 2014 4:28 PM UTC  Amazon.com Inc. logos are arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013\. Amazon.com Inc. is scheduled to release third-quarter earnings on Oct. 24\. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Amazon.com Inc. logos are arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013\. Amazon.com Inc. is scheduled to release third-quarter earnings on Oct. 24\. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen May 9, 2014 4:28 PM UTC DIY Photography, a popular photography blog, [recently uncovered](http://www.diyphotography.net/can-close-studio-amazon-patents-photographing-seamless-white/?%5Fga=1.251301510.1205361971.1397085400) Amazon’s filing of a [patent](http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=08676045&idkey=NONE&%5Fga=1.178291236.1205361971.1397085400) that would, if enforced, essentially give Amazon the intellectual rights to taking pictures in front of seamless white backgrounds. The patent—titled “Studio Arrangement”—was filed in 2011, and detailed what’s essentially been the accepted method of taking studio photos against a white backdrop. As TechDirt [reports](http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140507/04102327144/us-patent-office-grants-photography-against-white-background-patent-to-amazon.shtml?%5Fga=1.178291236.1205361971.1397085400), the _highly technical_ process detailed in the patent goes something like this: --- > “” --- …Not exactly rocket science, to be sure. The specifics listed in Amazon’s filing, however, would appear to render the patent itself unenforceable, as they’re not hard to get around. But that begs the question: Why even file in the first place? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/94083/sorry-wannabe-models-amazon-now-owns-the-patent-for-photography-against-a-white-background/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/94083/sorry-wannabe-models-amazon-now-owns-the-patent-for-photography-against-a-white-background/"},"headline":"Sorry, Wannabe Models: Amazon Now Owns the Patent for 'Photography Against A White Background'","datePublished":"2014-05-09T16:28:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:33.197Z","description":"And you thought you were soooooo original","url":"https://time.com/94083/sorry-wannabe-models-amazon-now-owns-the-patent-for-photography-against-a-white-background/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Amazon","patents","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt533285724211640b/69868eb0e53aba4cd74d2814/185652491.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bijan Stephen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt533285724211640b/69868eb0e53aba4cd74d2814/185652491.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Amazon.com Illustrations Ahead Of Earnings","caption":"Amazon.com Illustrations Ahead Of Earnings","creditText":"Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/94083/sorry-wannabe-models-amazon-now-owns-the-patent-for-photography-against-a-white-background/","name":"Sorry, Wannabe Models: Amazon Now Owns the Patent for 'Photography Against A White Background'"}}]}] ```