The Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James posted a cropped version of a photo on his Facebook page. The photo was taken by photographer Steve Mitchell, who took a picture of LeBron dunking the ball over Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard. Copyright attorney Richard Liebowitz has filed a federal complaint stating that:
“The defendants are accused of infringing’s Mitchell copyright by reproducing and publicly displaying the photograph without the photographer’s consent. Mitchell demands a jury trial to assess whether Section 501 of the federal Copyright Act was violated. He seeks damages that would reflect profits, income, receipts and other benefits derived by James and his co-defendants or, in the alternative, damages of up to $150,000 per infringement. Judge Ronnie Abrams, a former federal prosecutor and adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, is presiding over the litigation.”
