Company Owes Photographer $1.2M For Long-Term Misuse Of Pigeon Photo

One unwitting pigeon has soared high above the ranks of its French fry-guzzling companions. Its image is worth US$1.2 million.

That’s the price a federal jury in Los Angeles, California, has smacked onto a company called Bird B Gone, which was sued by photographer Dennis Fugnetti for using his pigeon photo without his consent for over a decade. The verdict was made on Wednesday, December 14, concluding a yearslong battle between Fugnetti and Bird B Gone, which sells spikes to prevent birds from roosting in the selected areas.

Bird B Gone had originally commissioned Fugnetti’s two-man firm MIAD Photography and Design in 1999 to capture the image of a pigeon in flight, which it noted would be used across the brand’s imagery and products.

However, in 2003, the bird repellent merchant decided to go its own way and get its advertising done in-house, thus ending its ties with both Fugnetti and MIAD.

In spite of this, Bird B Gone continued using the image “on various retail product packages to illustrate its products,” according to legal documents seen by Law360.

The nail in the coffin came in 2017, when a Bird B Gone employee emailed Fugnetti to ask when the photo was taken so the company could trademark it. It then went ahead to file a registration to protect the image as its own. According to the lawsuit, this was when the photographer found out his work was still in use.

The photographer raised a copyright infringement suit against Birds B Gone in 2019. His attorneys argued that after Bird B Gone was threatened with this lawsuit, it promptly “destroyed all of the packaging” containing the image of the flying pigeon.

Fugnetti “unexpectedly” died the year the complaint was issued, and his daughter has taken over as his representative since.

In their argument, Bird B Gone’s lawyers asserted that the photographer had granted the firm an “implied license” for the prolonged use of the photo. This claim was dismissed by the court, and Bird B Gone’s attorneys now want to appeal the ruling.

For now, Fugnetti’s side is deeming the decision a victory. Fugnetti’s lawyers describe that the late photographer’s daughter “became visibly emotional” and was brought to tears when she learned her father’s case had emerged triumphant.

[via PetaPixel and Shotkit, cover illustration 27028856 © Aaron Rutten | Dreamstime.com]