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Nelson & McCulloch LLP Files Suit against Apple on Behalf of Professional Photographer Louie Psihoyos
New York, NY
Nelson & McCulloch LLP filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 19, 2009. The suit alleges that Apple is liable for copyright infringement for the use of Mr. Psihoyos’ famous “1000 TVs” image in an iPhone application without Psihoyos’ permission. The application, i.TV was formerly one of Apple’s most popular iPhone applications.
According to Dan Nelson, a copyright attorney in Nelson & McCulloch LLP's New York office, “Apple failed to take steps to ensure that third-party application developers weren’t infringing copyrights. Apple was aware that i.TV was making questionable uses of Mr. Psihoyos’ famous and iconic photograph, and didn’t prevent the developer from placing the photograph in the infringing application.”
Apple has bolstered its market share through the creation of iPhone applications, but hasn’t required third party developers to maintain insurance or to be solvent. Psihoyos seeks to establish that Apple had control over i.TV and should have exercised that control to stop the misappropriation of his photograph. According to Psihoyos, “This is one of my most famous photographs. It’s shocking to me that Apple would allow it to be displayed in an iPhone application without my permission and then blame their partner in the application.”
Read the complaint
Nelson & McCulloch LLP has extensive experience in copyright matters. For more information about the firm, visit www.nelsonmcculloch.com. For answers to your questions, please contact Dan Nelson at 212.973.3426 or at dn@dannelsonlaw.com.
Nelson & McCulloch LLP Files Suits Against Pearson Education Inc., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company on Behalf of Professional Photographers For Textbook Print Over-Runs.
Nelson & McCulloch LLP filed a putative class action lawsuit on July 23, 2009 against Pearson Education Inc. in the Southern District of New York on behalf of Norbert Wu, individually and as class representative for the putative class of professional photographers whose timely copyrighted images were misappropriated in dozens of Pearson textbooks.
Nelson & McCulloch LLP also filed a lawsuit on July 23, 2009 against Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company in the Southern District of New York on behalf of renowned professional photographers Louie Psihoyos and Norbert Wu, whose copyrighted images were misappropriated in dozens of Houghton Mifflin textbooks.
According to Dan Nelson, a copyright attorney in Nelson & McCulloch LLP's New York office, Pearson and Houghton have continually and systematically exceeded licenses for the use of the plaintiffs' photographs in text books. "Despite unambiguous limitations on how many textbooks Pearson and Houghton could print and sell containing the plaintiffs' images, these companies have continuously printed and sold hundreds of thousands or millions of additional books." As a result, the plaintiffs have suffered significant damages under the Copyright Act, including statutory damages up to for willful infringement of the plaintiffs' timely copyrighted images.
The suits seek $25 million in damages. According to Nelson, "the Court should send a message to large institutional infringers like Pearson and Houghton that they cannot license a photograph for 40,000 books and sell 250,000. Doing so constitutes willful copyright infringement."
Nelson & McCulloch LLP has extensive experience in copyright matters. For more information about the firm, visit www.nelsonmcculloch.com. For answers to your questions, please contact Dan Nelson at 212.973.3426 or at dn@dannelsonlaw.com.
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