SAN DIEGO – A San Diego-based professional photographer alleges an Encinitas corporation used his copyrighted photo without permission.
John Durant, doing business as John Durant Photographer, filed a complaint on Sept. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against Jones Fire Protection Inc. alleging that the California corporation violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on June 24, he sent a letter to the defendant demanding it to cease infringing his copyrighted work of an interior room in the Suncatch Estate and pay compensation for its unauthorized use thereof. The suit states that the defendant removed the copyrighted image, but has not paid the plaintiff for its use.
The plaintiff holds Jones Fire Protection Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly obtained profit at the expense of plaintiff, displayed a copyrighted work without consent from owner and concealed its infringement by intentionally removing the metadata / EXIF file of the original work.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against defendant; declaration of infringement; actual damages; award gains, profits, property, and advantages derived from infringement; costs and disbursements; attorneys' fees; interest; permanent injunction; and further relief as the court may deem just. He is represented by Audra L. Thompson of Duane Morris LLP in Los Angeles.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-02243