US court rejects professional photographer’s copyright infringement claim against Mashable
Nikhil Purohit · Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice · 2020
Stephanie Sinclair v Ziff Davis, LLC, and Mashable, Inc., 18-CV-790 (KMW) The US District Court for the Southern District of New York has recently rejected Stephanie Sinclair’s copyright infringement claim against the Defendants, which had posted her copyrighted photographs on their website, holding that the one at issue was a valid case of sub-licensing from Instagram. The Plaintiff is a professional photographer who owns copyright in a photograph titled ‘Child, Bride, Mother/Child Marriage in Guatemala’. She posted a copy of the said photograph on her ‘public’ Instagram account. The Defendant ‘Mashable’ approached the Plaintiff to obtain a licence that would cover use of the photograph for an article to be published on their website. The Plaintiff...