Wednesday 17 October 2012

Apple sued for infringing copyright in photograph

A swiss photographer, Sabine Liewald, has sued Apple for copyright infringement in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accusing the company of infringing the copyright in her photo Eye Closeup (below) by "[copying, publishing and exploiting] the photo, including in its Macbook Pro advertising campaign, keynote address and related advertising materials without permission or compensation."


According to the claim, Apple obtained the photo from Liewald's agent for "comping" (or layout) purposes only. It did not obtain any additional permissions from Liewald or her agent, and, indeed, subsequently informer her agent that it did not intend to use the photo in its Macbook Pro advertising campaign. Nevertheless, Apple proceeded to use the photo, as follows:


Liewald is seeking actual damages and for any profits attributable to infringements of her copyright in the photo, as well as for statutory damages for each infringing use of the photo.

Read the full claim here.

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