Facts

Rick Norsigian purchased 65 old-fashioned glass plate negatives from a garage sale in Fresno. He spent the last decade trying to prove that the negatives were taken by the famous photographer, Ansel Adams, in the 1920s and 1930s. Norsigian claimed the negatives, which depicted various images of Yosemite and coastal California, to be the artist's "lost negatives" that represented the previously missing chapter in Adams' oeuvre.

A legal dispute ensued between Norsigian and his marketing partner PRS Media Partners against Marin County-based Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. Norsigian sold prints via his "Lost Negatives" website.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust alleged that Norsigian and PRS Media infringed the Ansel Adams trademark. The Adams Trust further contended that Norsigian's motive was to gain profit, and that he had no right to use the trademarked name commercially.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
In a countersuit, Norsigian and PRS alleged that they had been defamed by William Turnage, the managing trustee of the Trust, who described them as "crooks" and "con-men" and likened them to Nazis, in published comments. Further, Norsigian contended that the plaintiffs were involved in a conspiracy against him. The conspiracy claim centered on emails Norsigian's attorneys retrieved from the Center for Creative Photography ("CCP") after serving a public records request. Norsigian used these emails as evidence that Turnage pressed the CCP to support the trust in discrediting Norsigian's claims that the negatives were by Adams.

Result

The parties entered into a settlement agreement whereby Norsigian and PRS Media were allowed to sell prints with the issuance of a disclaimer that the works are "sold as is with no representation or warranty of authenticity as a work of Ansel Adams." Norsigian and PRS Media further agreed to not use Ansel Adams' name or likeness or the Ansel Adams trademark in connection with the sales, promotion or advertisement of negatives.