HOUSTON – An Australian photographer alleges that one of his pictures is still being displayed on a commercial Web site despite the expiration of a retroactive license.
In a lawsuit filed on Nov. 1 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas, Carl Chapman accuses Facilium Inc. and numerous John Does of copyright infringement.
At issue of the suit is an image of a microwave radio link relay repeater dish antenna located in Sofala, New South Wales, Australia of which Chapman asserts ownership.
According to recent court papers, Chapman discovered that the defendants used the picture on their site without permission in May 2015. He subsequently contacted Facilium and agreed to grant it the aforementioned retroactive license to use the image with an expiration date of Jan. 6, 2016.
Though the license expired, the original petition says, the respondents have not removed the image despite repeated requests to do so.
The picture is reportedly still exhibited on the site.
Consequently, Chapman seeks unspecified monetary damages.
He is represented by attorney Mathew K. Higbee of the law firm Higbee & Associates in Santa Ana, Calif.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:17-CV-3322