SAN FRANCISCO – A Napa photographer alleges a textbook publisher used his photographs in publications that were not authorized per an agreement between the parties.
Peter Menzel filed a complaint on June 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against McGraw-Hill Global Education Holdings LLC and McGraw-Hill School Education Holdings LLC citing copyright infringement.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that between 1994 and 2014, he and the defendants entered into an agreement for limited licenses of the plaintiff's photography for educational publications. The plaintiff holds McGraw-Hill Global Education Holdings LLC and McGraw-Hill School Education Holdings LLC responsible because the defendants allegedly made more copies of the plaintiff's photographs than what was specified in the agreement as well as used his works in international publications, which was not specified in the agreement.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks permanent injunction against the defendant, impoundment of all copies of plaintiff's photographs being used in violation of his copyrights, all damages and profits derived from the unauthorized use of plaintiff's work, statutory damages, interest, all legal fees and any other relief as the court deems just. He is represented by Christopher Seidman of Harmon & Seidman LLC in Grand Junction, Colorado; Alex Rice Kerr of Harmon & Seidman LLC in Jackson, Wyoming; and Amanda L. Bruss of Harmon & Seidman LLC in Aurora, Colorado.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-03062-KAW