A federal court in Los Angeles has awarded a photographer nearly $1.2 million in a copyright infringement lawsuit that was brought to the photographer’s attention when the company tried to copyright the photograph. On Dec. 14, the United States District Court Central District of California ordered Bird Be Gone, LLC to pay $1,175,420.18 to Dennis Fugnetti Photography Trust.

Dennis Fugnetti v. Bird B Gone Inc. Copyright Case

The photograph at the center of Dennis Fugnetti v. Bird B Gone Inc. is an image of a pigeon in flight that was photographed more than 20 years ago. The company had originally began using the image shortly after it was photographed in 1999 as part of an agreement between Fugnetti’s company, MIAD Photography and Design. Fugnetti was commissioned to photograph a pigeon in flight, as well as creating designs using the image to promote the company’s bird-repelling products. However, that agreement ended in 2003, as the company had decided to create its own in-house team.

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In 2017, an employee of the company reached out to the photographer for additional details on when the image was taken so that the company could apply for a copyright. The photographer offered to sell a limited use license to the image to the company for $5,200. The company’s lawyer responded, stating the three-year statute of limitations and instead requesting that the photographer grant full rights to the image for the same sum.

According to court documents, the email prompted the photographer to investigate the company further, which is when he found current packaging using his image. After further requests by the photographer, the original complaint alleges that the company’s attorney told him “to go pound sand.”

After repeated requests for a list of where the image had been used went unanswered, the photographer filed a copyright suit on May 6, 2019. The photographer passed away in 2019 and the court case was continued by his daughter.

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According to court documents, the company’s lawyers argued that the company had an oral agreement with the photographer allowing them to continue to use the image. The document also states that the company had also been granted a trademark for the image in 2003 without the photographer’s knowledge.

After a jury trial, judge Steve Kim, U.S. Magistrate, ordered that the defendant pay $1,175,420.18. According to Law360, the company’s lawyers said that the company planned to continue to fight the copyright case.