It’s surely troubling times for Apple. First, the world watched Apple and Samsung lock horns with each other in the patent war courtroom drama, this time in the New York Southern District Court. And now, Apple has been sued by Sabine Liewald, a Swiss artist, for unlawfully featuring her registered photograph in their ad campaign about the Retina Display MacBook Pro.
Liewald has claimed Apple obtained this photo through her agent, Factory Downtown, without proper licensing permissions. Apple had initially requested for a high-res version of the image for layout purposes only, but went on to use the picture in their ad campaign without taking permission from the artist. This image featured prominently in the MacBook Pro ad campaigns, keynote address, and other advertising materials for this product. Since Apple used the image multiple times without taking the artist’s permission or without offering any form of compensation, Liewald is seeking damages as well in the case.
Apple is not new to legal tussles with photographers. In 2007 and in 2009, Apple was sued by Louis Psihoyos for a TV promotion that resembled one of his works, ‘1000 TVs’, closely. We wonder if Sabine Liewald will get the apology and compensation from the tech major in this case.