Facts

Scott Hargis was an architectural photographer based in Oakland, California who has worked across American and often abroad. He regularly participated in workshops and seminars teaching and sharing his techniques and story with architectural photographers around the world. He was also the author of the book "The Essential Guide to Lighting Interiors." Meanwhile, Pacifica Senior Living Management LLC (Pacifica) was the provider of independent living, assisted living, memory care and respite care services for seniors in California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Virginia, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. Prior to the properties being acquired by Pacifica, Hargis was hired by the prior owners to take photographs of the properties for use in online marketing. On different occasions during 2014, 2018 and 2019, Hargis took 43 photographs for the prior owners depicting the Fresno, Menifee, Encinitas, Chula Vista, Rancho Penasquitos, Burlingame and Sterling senior communities. Some of the photos were registered with the U.S. Copyright Office on February 20, 2019, under the registration number VA 2-140-916 and others were registered on September 12, 2019 under registration number VA 2-174-022. Hargis did not present a registration certificate for a photograph taken in 2014. Pacifica purchased the Fresno and Menifee properties in December of 2020 and received the 16 photographs taken by Hargis of these properties from the prior owner. Pacifica used the photographs on its newly created websites for the properties. On March 31, 2021, Hargis's representative emailed Pacifica notifying it of Hargis' copyrights in the 16 photos of the Fresno and Menifee properties and the infringing nature of Pacifica's unauthorized use of the 16 photos. On April 26, 2021, Pacifica represented to Hargis that the photos had been taken down and this was confirmed by Hargis' representative. However, Pacifica declined to pay the damages amount demanded by Hargis' representativea and communincations ended in May of 2021. In May and December of 2021 Pacifica acquired the Sterling, Encinitas, Chula Vista, Rancho Penasquitos, and Burlingame properties and received copies of the photographs of those properties from the prior owners. Pacifica used the photos on its newly created websites for those properties. Hargis dba Scott Hargis Photo brought a lawsuit against Pacific for copyright infringement of the 43 photographs on September 27, 2022

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff argued that he owned all copyrights in the 42 photos which substantially consisted of wholly original material that constituted copyrightable subject matter. Plaintiff maintained that defendant directly, contributorily, and/or vicariously infringed and unless enjoined, would continue to infringe on plaintiff's copyrights. In particular, plaintiff contended that defendant willfully and knowingly without his consent or license reproduced, distributed, and publicly displayed the 42 photos on its Pacifica websites for blatantly commercial use. Further, plaintiff alleged that defendant exploited the photos to entice prospective senior living residents and their families to choose them over competitor senior living communities. Plaintiff maintained that these acts of infringement were willful because defendant was a sophisticated for-profit business with full knowledge of the strictures of federal copyright law and the basic requirements of licensing copyrighted content for commercial exploitation and defendant received repeated notice by representatives of plaintiff of the acts of infringement yet refused to remove the photos from its websites. Finally, plaintiff alleged that defendants have received substantial benefits in connection with the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, display, and utilization of the photos for purpose of trade.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant denied all contentions and argued that it reasonably believed it had been given permission to use the photographs because the photographs had been turned over to it by the prior owner for that purpose. Defendant was not aware that all of the photographs had been taken by Hargis because it was given notice of his asserted copyrights with respect to only the first 16 photos before suit was filed. Once notice was provided with respect to the first 16 photos the photos were quickly taken off the websites, and the other photos were removed from the subsequent websites when the Complaint was filed, which was Pacifica's first notice of the copyright claims a to those photos.

Result

The jury found that: a) plaintiff established ownership of 42 of the 43 photos; b) each infringement was willful; c) each of the 42 photographs constituted a distinct work subject to its own statutory damages award; and d) plaintiff was entitled to a statutory damages award of $150,000 for each of the 42 infringements (the statutory maximum for willful infringement), for a total verdict of $6.3 million.