Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Indianapolis, Indiana – Attorney Richard Bell of McCordsville, Indiana filed suit in the Southern District of Indiana alleging that Defendant, Amy Polston, infringed his rights to the “Indianapolis Photo” registered on August 4, 2011 with the US Copyright Office, Registration No. VA0001785115. Plaintiff is seeking actual and statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, and any other relief as is just and proper.
Bell, who has filed numerous similar cases, took the Indianapolis Photo in March 2000. He subsequently posted the photo online in August 2000 and registered the photo with the US Copyright Office nearly 11 years later. Bell alleges that Polston used the Indianapolis Photo on a website she created to promote and advertise her business in the Indianapolis area. He further alleges that Polston falsely claimed to Trulia.com, the profile host, that she
owned the copyrights of all images and photographs used on her profile including the Indianapolis Photo. Bell asserts that Polston began using the Indianapolis Photo on her website beginning in 2014 without paying for the use or licensing the photo from him.
Plaintiff has filed this suit as Polston has refused to pay for the unauthorized use and has not agreed to be enjoined from using the Indianapolis Photo. As such, Bell claims that Polston is vicariously liable for each downloaded copy of the Indianapolis Photo by each third-party that downloaded it from her website. He also claims that she is liable for all profits resulting from these downloads and copyright infringement, even if she did not know that any use of the Indianapolis Photo would infringe Bell’s copyright.
The case was assigned to Chief Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson and Magistrate Judge Mark J. Dinsmore in the Southern District and assigned Case 1:18-cv-01675-JMS-MJD.