Orange County business sues to protect celebrity photos

A Hudson Valley print-on-demand business claims that a Manhattan company improperly blocked sales of celebrity photographs.

Wall Art Distributors Inc., of Washingtonville, Orange County, accused Merch Traffic of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, in a complaint filed on May 14 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.

Merch “misrepresented that it owned the copyrights,” the complaint states, “in an effort to impair and interfere with Wall Art’s relationship with Walmart.”

Merch Traffic is a branding and merchandise company that represents major entertainers, such as singer Harry Styles.

Wall Art was formed in 2017 by James Ferrazzano, of New Windsor, and makes about $428,000 annually selling reprints and posters of celebrities such as Styles.

Celebrity photos are typically taken by photographers invited to public events, Wall Art says, and the photographers own the copyrights to their work.

Many of the photos in Wall Art’s stock were licensed by the photographers to the Everett Collection, according to the complaint, which in turn licensed them to Wall Art for reprinting and distribution to individual buyers.

On Feb. 16, Merch sent 47 takedown notices to Walmart demanding that Wall Art’s celebrity images be removed from the online market, according to the complaint, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Walmart removed the photos and suspended Wall Art’s account.

Merch had claimed, under penalty of perjury, that it had the right to enforce the copyrights.

“Merch does not — and cannot — contend it owns or has any rights of copyright for the photographs at issue in this case,” the complaint states.

Wall Art challenged the DMCA action, citing its license to reprint and sell the photos. Merch allegedly admitted it was wrong but then asserted that it was protecting the celebrities’ publicity rights.

The DMCA, the complaint states, does not protect publicity rights.

Merch withdrew some of the takedown notices, the complaint states, and Walmart reinstated Wall Art’s account.

Wall Art says the ordeal disrupted its business for months and harmed its reputation.

It accused Merch of violating the DMCA and interfering with business. It is asking the court to stop Merch from issuing takedown notices that claim rights it does not have; declare that Merch does not have a valid claim for publicity rights; and award unspecified damages.

Merch did not reply to a message asking for its side of the story.