A St. Louis couple is not only facing felony gun charges for pointing guns at protestors, they are also in another legal dispute with a photographer who shot a viral photo of them. It turns out that the couple, attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey used a viral photo of them shot by United Press International (UPI) photojournalist William Greenblatt:
He hadn’t given the couple permission to use his photo in any way, and therefore their cards seemed to be a clear-cut case of copyright infringement.
“Being lawyers, they should know copyright laws, but apparently they feel like they don’t need to adhere to any of that,” Greenblatt tells PetaPixel.
In response to the cards, Greenblatt sent the couple a bill while UPI sent a cease-and-desist letter.
“I am in the business of selling images,” Greenblatt writes. “I do not give them away for free. Enclosed you will find an invoice for $1500.00, a normal charge for an image such as yours.”
Mark McCloskey responded by posting the letter to Facebook.
“This made my day: the photographer that trespassed into my neighborhood and stole a photo of us has sent us a bill!!!!!” McCloskey writes. “Now be nice and don’t bother him, but what chutzpah.”
Greenblatt says the couple has yet to respond to his letter, and that it’s not money he’s after — he simply wants to protect his copyright as a photographer.
“People steal work all the time. They take it and feel that it’s theirs. […] It makes me mad that they feel they can use the image just because it’s of them,” the photographer says. “It’s not even the money. I could care less about the money.
Image via PetaPixel
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Good luck with that photographer. The picture was taken of them on private property without their permission, selling it likely violates their personality property rights under Missouri law.
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