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Woman accuses Yahoo of stealing her image
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According to a court complaint filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Shannon Stovall, a resident of Ohio's Cuyahoga County, discovered upon signing up for Yahoo's Web-based e-mail service last October that a picture taken of her appeared in a note sent to new users.
The message, according to a printout attached to the court complaint, leads off with the headline "Hooray! Your first e-mail" and a photograph containing two women, one of which is purported to be Stovall. It goes on to give Yahoo Mail users tips on how to transfer address book contacts and customize the look of their messages.
The complaint charges that the image has been sent to millions of users around the world without Stovall's authorization, violating her right to privacy and right to publicity--that is, to control the commercial use of her identity.
Mitchell Yelsky, one of three attorneys handling Stovall's case, said his client "has previously modeled and worked for modeling agencies." According to documents provided to CNET News.com, Yelsky sent two letters to Yahoo in November asking that the company cease using her image in the message.
A Yahoo representative said Friday that the company is not allowed to comment on "specifics related to legal cases."
The complaint requests a jury trial, $10 million to compensate for profits that have been allegedly generated by use of her likeness, and $10 million to cover attorneys' fees and litigation expenses.
The allegations resemble a complaint lodged by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady against Yahoo in December. The star athlete accused the portal of using a photograph of him from the September 2006 issue of Sports Illustrated without his permission to promote its fantasy football league.
Stovall's case was first reported Thursday by eWeek.
See more CNET content tagged:
Ohio, Yahoo! Inc., litigation, complaint, attorney
40 comments
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Whether it is a model, photographer, graphic designer, the individual should get paid for his/her work.
Yahoo! is making money with each new user that receives the email. The person in the image and photographer who took the photo should be getting paid for their WORK, too.
Of course Yahoo! is responsible for making sure they're using images legally, but the owner of the images should do all he/she can to keep their work from unintended use, as well. Relevant article regarding creatives and copyright: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.essentialsecurity.com/news.htm?id=423" target="_newWindow">http://www.essentialsecurity.com/news.htm?id=423</a>
Whether it is a model, photographer, graphic designer, the individual should get paid for his/her work.
Yahoo! is making money with each new user that receives the email. The person in the image and photographer who took the photo should be getting paid for their WORK, too.
This may sound silly, but I would think that she would be awarded damages related to the number of times the picture was used, and the nature of the picture, as well as punitive damages.
If the picture was some way embarrassing, like a nude photo or a picture with the caption, "I use Yahoo" or "I use AOL", the damages would be greater. If negligence on her part contributed to her picture being used, the damages should be less.
Please understand I am not a lawyer. My opinion has all the validity of a Judge talking about computers or the internet.
Nothing was stolen, she lost nothing. Yahoo made no money directly off this.
What a greedy who*e.
If this is true, yahoo should be fined $10000 as punitive and nothing more.
SHE DOES NOT OWN THE IMAGE - the copyright holder owns the image and in this case, it is most likely the photographer. She must have signed a model release for stock usage or the agency wouldn't have accepted the image.
She has no case whatsoever.
and make a poor lawyer rich doing it..
If they did they could use some of the kickback they get from pumping Second Life and salesforce.com to pay her off.
The purpose of the law suit is to get Yahoo to 'fess up' and point the finger at the agency that supplied the photograph, if Yahoo acted in good faith then they aren't liable, it the stock agency that are at fault.
Eventhough they may not be at fault Yahoo have distributed her image without her consent, the judge will look at how Yahoo licensed the image and then either dismiss the case against them or award damages in proportion to the harm that has been done.
Considering she was unaware that her image was being 'abused' until she recieved an email from Yahoo it will be hard for her to argue damages.
In a European court her maximum award would be related to the fees that she'd have recieved had the image been licensed correctly, and not based on the number of infringing copies in circulation, but she's in the USA, I'm surprised she's only asking $10m - she should have tired for $50 per copy - or $100m.