Jury Awards Photographer Max Damages in Copyright Suit Against Senior Living Giant

A California jury on Monday awarded what is reportedly the “largest maximum statutory damages verdict for photography infringement in U.S. history,” according to a press release issued by the plaintiff’s counsel in the case.

Scott Hargis is an architectural photographer who sued Pacifica Senior Living Management LLC in September 2022 for damages and injunctive relief related to infringement of 43 of Hargis’ photos that Pacifica used to advertise and market its senior living facilities.

The Central District of California, Western Division jury found all 43 photos to be willfully infringed and awarded the maximum damages allowed per infringement ($150,000). The jury found that Hargis failed to show he holds a registered copyright in one of the photos, so damages were awarded on 42 of the photos, for a total of $6.3 million.

Hargis is a well-known architectural photographer and is hired by architectural and design firms to photograph their works. He authored a series of 43 photos depicting the Fresno, Sun City, Encinitas, Chula Vista, Rancho Penasquitos, Burlingame and Sterling locations of the Pacifica facilities and registered them with the U.S. Copyright Office. Hargis’ complaint accused Pacifica of “unauthorized commercial exploitation of the Photos” through the company’s use of the images “to attract website visitors to, among other things, ‘schedule a tour’ of various Pacifica locations and ‘connect with [Pacifica’s] friendly team today,’ thereby making its use thereof unmistakably commercial.”

Hargis argued that Pacifica’s infringement was willful because it is a “sophisticated for-profit business with full knowledge of the strictures of federal copyright law and the basic requirements for licensing copyrighted content for commercial exploitation.”

Furthermore, the photos remained on Pacifica’s websites even after Hargis had notified the company of the infringement and made numerous attempts to settle, said the complaint.

A statement issued by founding partner John Tehranian of the law firm that represented Hargis, One LLP, said the verdict is “not just a victory for Scott Hargis, but also holds broader societal significance for all creatives by affirming the gravity with which the law will treat willful violations of copyrights and by encouraging responsible business practices in the digital age.”

Joe Naylor, Co-Founder and CEO of ImageRights International, Inc., which worked with One LLP on the case, said that “people brazenly use photos without permission, disregarding creators’ rights. When we sought to settle this issue, we were met with dismissiveness and further infringement.”

ImageRights International uses AI to search the web for infringing uses of creators’ images, among other services.

Image Source: Deposit Photos
Author: zimmytws
Image ID: 61513531