As the financial crisis deepened this winter, several stock photo agencies were forced to restructure or close.

Following its $96 million purchase of the Jupiterimages agency in February, stock photo conglomerate Getty Images laid off 110 employees, 5 percent of its total workforce, in March and closed several Jupiterimages branches in the United States.

Getty says it plans to maintain all Jupiterimages offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and will retain the Jupiterimages brand worldwide...

Stock photographers Roger Ressmeyer and Richard Minden are leading a $100 million class-action lawsuit against Getty Images over its Premium Access subscription plan. The Premium Access service is an unadvertised product that Getty offers its high-volume costumers.

Joining Ressmeyer and Minden are 84 other photographers, who claim that Getty has violated copyrights and contracts by including rights-managed images in the Premium Access product...

Getty Images and Jupiterimages are set to merge their services as part of a $96 million deal. At press time, the merger was scheduled to occur in early 2009.

As early as March 2007, Getty showed interest in acquiring Jupiterimages. A tentative deal valued at $388 million never materialized. Jupitermedia, the parent company of Jupiterimages, also received interest from four other buyers in 2008...

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...

Jeff Burke has retired as senior vice president for product strategy at Jupitermedia, owner of the Jupiterimages stock agency. Lorraine Triolo, Jupitermedia creative director and Burke's wife, also is leaving the company.

In the 1980s, the duo founded the PictureArt stock agency, which was acquired by Jupitermedia last year.

Burke will remain chairman of the...