In a ruling that could have dramatic consequences for online news agencies and digital journalists, a judge ruled Tuesday that two news outlets should have asked permission before using a Twitter picture from a photojournalist.

According to the court's ruling, Agence France-Press violated the copyright of photojournalist Daniel Morel by taking photos of a 2010 earthquake in Haiti that he tweeted and disseminating them without permission via Getty. The Washington Post, the court found, violated Morel's copyright by running four of the photos from Getty also without Morel's permission, according to Reuters.

Twitter's Terms of Service lay at the center of District Judge Alison Nathan's decision: While the AFP argued Morel's work was free to use once posted to Twitter, Nathan instead found that Twitter's Terms of Service required that news outlets first get permission before running tweeted photos.

Nathan, however, did rule that the retweeting of such photos is allowed.

Twitter has long held that photographers own their tweeted content. The company's Terms of Service section on copyright maintains that "Twitter respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects users of the Services to do the same."

The section also contains detailed instructions on contacting Twitter if a user feels his or her content is "copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement."

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The trial began in early 2010 when the AFP sued in order to get a judge's ruling that it was legally allowed to distribute tweeted photos after Morel first accused it of copyright infringement. Morel then launched a countersuit against the AFP, the Washington Post and Getty.

Morel initially called for "tens or hundreds of millions of dollars," but the judge on Tuesday limited the financial damages Morel might be entitled to receive to a single award per infringed image. The judge also refused to rule on whether the news outlets acted willingly in violating Morel's copyright or if they violated his rights under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

The trial is still ongoing. Getty is a party to the trial but was not included in Tuesday's decision.

Full disclosure: Mashable is a Getty subscriber.

Should journalists and media outlets be required to get a social media user's permission before using his or her photo? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, andrearoad