Detroit Lions Get Hurled With Suit For Using Photographer’s Pic To Make Statue
Photo 74522272 © Jerry Coli | Dreamstime.com
The football is in the Detroit Lions’ court, which has been hit with a lawsuit by photographer Allen Kee. The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, centers around a picture Kee took during a Lions game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 3, 1995, which he says served as the muse for a Barry Sanders statue unveiled outside Ford Field in September.
Kee, who has been capturing sports moments for over three decades, asserts that he is the sole author and exclusive owner of the photograph, and claims that he never authorized any party to create a derivative work based on his photo. Apart from the Lions, his lawsuit names Getty Images, NFL Properties, NFL Enterprises, Fanatics, Dick’s Sporting Goods, McFarlane Toys, among others, accusing them of direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement.
McFarlane Toys, for example, produced figures of Sanders modeled after the same photo, while Getty Images purportedly distributed copies of Kee’s photograph without his consent.
The photographer’s suspicions were validated after the Lions released a video on YouTube showing off the new Barry Sanders sculpture. In it, the same image can be seen behind the clay mold of the statue.
Furthermore, an artist is heard acknowledging an intention to “recreate” Kee’s photograph in the sculpture, describing the image as “the most iconic running photo ever taken of Barry Sanders… that’s what’s being recreated in this sculpture.”
Kee is demanding an unspecified amount of relief and a permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from continuing to use his copyrighted work. This includes copying, displaying, distributing, advertising, promoting, or exploiting the photograph in any form.
