LOS ANGELES – A professional photographer alleges a website registered with a Playa Del Ray address used two of his photos of entertainers without authorization.
Larry G. Philpot filed a complaint on Sept. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against SeaWaves Technology LLC alleging that the website owner violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
According to the complaint, plaintiff is the sole owner of certain copyrighted photographs of entertainers Willie Nelson and Kenny Chesney. The plaintiff alleges the defendant used the photos for its own commercial gain without his permission and stripped the copyright management information.
The plaintiff holds SeaWaves Technology LLC responsible because the defendant allegedly reproduced, publicly displayed and publicly distributed plaintiff's copyrighted photographs on its popcrunch.com website without authorization or proper attribution.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks an injunction order enjoining defendant from infringing plaintiff’s copyrights in any manner and award for all profits of defendant, plus all losses of plaintiff, all damages, interest, costs and such other legal and equitable relief. He is represented by Michael N. Zachary, Nicholas S. Mancuso and Hillary N. Bunsow of Bunsow De Mory LLP in Redwood City.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California case number 2:18-cv-08005-JFW-RAO