A Fishers, Indiana-based sauna company has been sued for the unauthorized use of a towel rack photograph on their website. Unlike many of these photography copyright lawsuits, the defendant did not immediately settle and has filed its Answer (below). The parties have begun the initial phases of discovery, having already submitted initial disclosures and filed their witness and exhibit lists.
Stay tuned for updates.
Howarth v. My Sauna World LLC
Court Case Number: 1:24-cv-00734-MPB-KMB File Date: April 29, 2024 Plaintiff: Morgan Howarth Plaintiff Counsel: Craig Sanders of Sanders Law Group Defendant: My Sauna World LLC Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: Matthew P. Brookman Referred To: Kellie M. Barr
The photographs that are the subject of this new Indiana copyright lawsuit were commercially licensed to @caroline.andreon on Instagram for the purpose of display and/or public distribution. Angi (formerly Angie’s List), an Indianapolis-based website providing home contractor information (roofers, plumbers, electricians, etc.), reposted the photographs on its own @Angi Instagram account, crediting the @caroline.andreon account. However, Angi did not seek permission from the actual owner of the photographs, a photographer from Paris, France. In reposting the photographs, Angi allegedly also removed a gutter credit attributing @julien_pepy_photographe as the author of the work, inviting an additional claim of Removal and Alteration of Copyright Management Information.
These photography copyright lawsuits typically settle quickly but sometimes the defendant has a good explanation for their use of the photograph(s). Stay tuned to see which direction this lawsuit will take.
Pepy v. Angie’s Lists, Inc. d/b/a Angi
Court Case Number: 1:24-cv-01209-SEB-MJD File Date: July 18, 2024 Plaintiff: Julien Pepy Plaintiff Counsel: Craig B. Sanders of Sanders Law Group Defendant: Angie’s List, Inc. d/b/a Angi Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement, Removal and Alteration of Copyright Management Information Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: Sarah Evans Barker Referred To: Mark J. Dinsmore
Here is yet another copyright lawsuit over the unauthorized use of a photograph. The plaintiff is a New York-based photographer and the defendant is a conservative news site based in Clark County, Indiana. The photograph was of a group of migrants being kicked out of the Watson Hotel in New York City.
Stay tuned to see whether the conservative site decides to pay an attorney and assert a fair use defense or simply settle the lawsuit by paying a license fee.
Miller v. Empire News LLC
Court Case Number: 4:24-cv-00091-SEB-KMB File Date: June 26, 2024 Plaintiff: William Miller Plaintiff Counsel: Renee Aragona of Sanders Law Group Defendant: Empire News LLC Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement, Removal and Alteration of Copyright Management Information Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: Sarah Evans Barker Referred To: Kellie M. Barr
The defendant in the latest Indiana copyright lawsuit is a Lafayette,Indiana-based roofing company alleged to have shared a video showing the tornado damage from the town of Sullivan, Indiana on its company Facebook page. The plaintiff is a professional videographer from Colorado.
Companies, go delete old social media posts that include any content that you don’t own or have well-documented permission to use and share. As we’re seeing, old posts can carry a legal risk, so if they are no longer providing a marketing benefit, consider deletion.
Stay tuned for updates.
Rigsby v. All Seasons Roofing
Court Case Number: 4:24-cv-00023-PPS-JEM File Date: March 14, 2024 Plaintiff: Aaron Rigsby Plaintiff Counsel: Craig Sanders, Esq. of Sanders Law Group Defendant: John W. Darnell, Inc. d/b/a All Seasons Roofing Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement Court: Northern District of Indiana Judge: Philip P. Simon Referred To: John E. Martin
Photographers getting paid what they’re owed by news organizations has always been an issue. Just ask Peter Parker.
WISH-TV, an Indianapolis-based local television station, is accused of copying a photograph of a New York garbage truck and reposting it to WISH-TV’s website/social media. The original photograph had been included in a NY Post article via a paid license. In addition to editing the photograph to overlay pictures of three sanitation workers, WISH-TV also cropped out the photographer’s attribution (see Complaint below).
Unable to negotiate a license fee, the photographer is now suing WISH-TV for copyright infringement and removal of the attribution.
If you want a photograph of a random New York garbage truck, either: a) take the photo yourself, b) pay someone to take the photo for you, c) pay someone who has already taken such a photo to use their photo, or d) use AI to create the photo because who will really know, it’s just a random garbage truck. Do not: e) find a photo on Google Images, crop out the photographer’s logo, and post it on your website.
The “news reporting” fair use defense likely won’t work for WISH-TV, because WISH-TV’s article was not reporting about this specific garbage truck but rather just took a random garbage truck photograph and used it in a story about sanitation worker overtime hours. If WISH-TV had been reporting about this particular garbage truck, or even the photographer, they might be able to claim a fair use defense, although they would still need to explain why the photographer’s attribution was cropped.
Stay tuned for updates.
Sadowski v. Circle City Broadcasting I, LLC d/b/a WISH-TV
Court Case Number: 1:24-cv-00324-JRS-TAB File Date: February 21, 2024 Plaintiff: Christopher Sadowski Plaintiff Counsel: Michael A. Swift of Maginot, Moore & Beck LLP Defendant: Circle City Broadcasting I, LLC d/b/a WISH-TV Cause: Copyright Infringement, Removal or Alteration of Copyright Management Information Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: James R. Sweeney II Referred To: Tim A. Baker
Indiana Intellectual Property Blog 