Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Indianapolis, Indiana – Attorney Richard Bell of McCordsville, Indiana filed suit in the Southern District of Indiana alleging that Defendant, Improve My Credit Fitness LLC infringed its rights to the “Indianapolis Photo”
registered on August 4, 2011 with the US Copyright Office, Registration No. VA0001785115. Plaintiff is seeking statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, and any other relief as is just and proper.
Bell is notorious for suing over his copyrighted photo, having filed dozens of previous lawsuits against a variety of defendants across the country. In March 2000, Bell took a photo of the Indianapolis skyline, and has published it or licensed it for publication since that time. He registered the copyright for the photo in 2011. According to the complaint, Bell uses the photo to promote his photography business.
According to the complaint, Defendant created the domain https://www.creditrestoreusa.com and used the Indianapolis photo without authorization on the site to promote their business. Plaintiff claims that Defendant falsely claimed it owned all copyrights for all photos appearing on its site, and further claims that Defendant has refused to pay for the photos rights or cease using it.
Plaintiff has formally alleged copyright infringement and is seeking a permanent injunction to prevent defendant from using the photo, lost profits, and other relief.
The case was assigned to Chief Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson and Magistrate Judge Debra McVicker Lynch in the Southern District and assigned Case 1:18-cv-01162-JMS-DML.