The allegedly infringed Stevie Wonder photo as seen in Al Satterwhite’s copyright lawsuit against Sony Music Publishing. Photo Credit: Digital Music News
Sony Music Publishing (SMP) is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit for allegedly using an “iconic photograph” of Stevie Wonder in a social post without authorization.
Veteran photographer Al Satterwhite submitted that straightforward suit to a federal court in New York, naming SMP as the lone defendant. As many know from our prior coverage of photo-infringement legal battles, photogs own the rights to shots captured in public – even when said shots depict celebrities and other prominent figures.
As such, multiple artists have faced copyright complaints for posting third-party images of themselves; not coincidentally, some are now in the habit of traveling with personal photographers of their own.
Back to Satterwhite’s suit, the longtime professional’s sizable portfolio includes several portraits of Stevie Wonder performing in Los Angeles in 1974. And one of these photos allegedly made its way into a 2023 Sony Music Publishing Instagram post without authorization.
Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Wonder’s Innervisions, including “Higher Ground” and “Living for the City,” the still-live message is accompanied by an image that belongs to the plaintiff, according to the to-the-point suit.
In the filing party’s own words, then, SMP allegedly found the photo, downloaded it, and uploaded it to the relevant social platform sans authorization.
And the alleged infringement was willful because the publishing giant “is a sophisticated media company that understands copyright law and the need to obtain a license to publish the copyrighted works of others,” per the legal text.
With that, the alleged willful infringement’s maximum statutory damages would come in at $150,000, and we’ll continue tracking the case from here. Generally speaking, prompt resolutions are the norm in showdowns of this nature.
One recent example: The video-focused infringement action filed against Gamma, Kanye West, and French Montana by Bauer-Griffin. In brief, West is said to have become quite angry after walking into and hitting his head on a sign in 2013; paparazzi captured the painful mishap, complete with the ensuing colorful language, on video.
The defendants, for their part, allegedly incorporated the episode’s audio – meaning audio from the copyright-protected video – into “Where They At” without permission. Yesterday, Bauer-Griffin voluntarily dismissed the suit without prejudice.
And last year, Satterwhite sued Berklee College of Music for allegedly infringing another Wonder photo captured during the same session. The photog voluntarily dismissed the action less than two months after filing.