Federal Court Calls into Question Copyright Claim of Photograph Subject of Scores of Lawsuits

An Indianapolis attorney has brought forth scores of lawsuits, suing “hundreds of people”, over a picture of the Indianapolis skyline that he took and later copyrighted, but in a recent holding U.S. District Court Judge Richard Young denied cross-motions for summary judgment, finding that “there is a genuine dispute of material fact as to the ownership of the copyright.” The Court’s entry can be found in full here. The plaintiff/attorney has been described as a “copyright troll” and a “digital extortionist”, and the picture at issue has been repeatedly litigated, but the defendant here is the first to challenge the plaintiff’s ownership of the copyright on the basis that the picture was used on the plaintiff’s law firm website. The Court determined that competing inferences precluded summary judgment in favor of either movant. The Indiana Lawyer has more on the long history of the picture in question here.

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