Update on The Beret Project

The Beret Project began in April 2009 as a publicly accessible blog. Since then, nearly 6,500 posts have been published—day after day—growing from very humble beginnings to peaks of more than 30,000 visitors per day.

Over the years, posts have explored a wide range of subjects, always connected in some way to the beret: historic manufacturing, artists who wore (or wear) berets, historical events in which berets featured, portraits of boineros and boineras around the world, factory workers who adopted the beret almost as a uniform, notable military berets, and much more. Along the way, thousands of images have been shared.

I have always made every effort to respect authors’ copyright and invited rights holders to contact me if I inadvertently published protected material. For many years, this worked in a friendly and constructive way. Copyright holders did reach out, and matters were resolved easily—sometimes by removing an image, often by adding proper credit, and occasionally by offering a beret as a gesture of goodwill.

Over the past two years, however, the landscape has changed with the rise of AI-driven enforcement. Some companies now use automated systems to scan thousands of webpages for copyrighted images and issue payment demands amounting to many thousands of dollars.

I am currently facing a court case in which nearly $7,000 is being sought for four small, low-quality images; the outcome remains uncertain. Unfortunately, this situation makes it impossible for The Beret Project to continue in its present form.

The blog can now remain accessible only to a maximum of 100 invited readers.

For those who wish to help with the legal costs, donations are sincerely appreciated. A donation link is available on the right side of this blog.