LOS ANGELES – A collector and owner of several historic photographs alleges a media company published two photos of Marilyn Monroe without his permission.
Keya Morgan filed a complaint on July 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against New York Daily News Co. and Does 1-10 alleging copyright infringement.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that he suffered damages as the result of the copyrighted photographs of Monroe taken in 1962 at John F. Kennedy's Madison Square Garden birthday celebration being used without his consent by the defendants. The suit states the plaintiff owns the negatives and the copyrights for the photos. The plaintiff holds New York Daily News Co. and Does 1-10 responsible because the defendants allegedly published plaintiff's copyrighted photographs with giving credit to plaintiff.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks payment for damages of no less than $550,000, award of actual damages and statutory damages, destruction of all infringing materials, enjoin the defendant, all legal fees and any other relief as the court deems just. He is represented by Jonathan L. Gerber and Adam I. Miller of Miller Miller Menthe LLP in Newport Beach.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Case number 2:16-cv-05658-JFW-FFM