Plaintiff Morgan Howarth, through his legal counsel, filed a complaint against Defendant Premier Aquascapes LTD for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §101 et seq. According to the complaint, Howarth, a professional photographer based in Virginia, owns the rights to a photograph of a luxury backyard pool and has commercial licensing rights for its online and print use.
Premier Aquascapes, an Indiana landscaping company, operates multiple social media accounts, including “premiereaquascapes” on Facebook, “@PremiereAqua” on X (formerly Twitter), and “@premiereaqua” on Facebook. The Plaintiff alleges that the Defendant used his Photograph without permission, violating U.S. copyright laws.
Court documents claim the Photograph was registered with the United States Copyright Office (USCO) on January 19, 2017. Despite Plaintiff’s attempts to resolve the issue in October and November 2024, the Defendant allegedly continued to infringe on the work, resulting in harm to the Photograph’s commercial market.
The complaint asserts that the Defendant’s actions constitute willful copyright infringement, and the Plaintiff seeks damages, disgorgement of profits, attorney’s fees, and an injunction to stop further use of the Photograph. The Plaintiff also requests pre-judgment interest, litigation costs, and any other relief the court feels is appropriate.
A person or persons with the name Morgan Howarth is a prodigious litigant, and is reported by Justia.com to be a party to 119 copyright infringement suits across the country, including this Indiana suit.
The case has been assigned to Judge Cristal C. Brisco and Magistrate Judge Scott J. Frankel in the U.S. District Court of Northern Indiana Case No. 3:25-cv-00122.