If you have looked at the presentation images of the MacBook Pro, then there is a good chance that this presentation picture has passed before your eyes and now you know a little of its history. This image was taken by a photographer who was asked by Apple for internal use only. Although the company knew it did not have the right to use the image to promote products, as it had not licensed this right, it used it to promote the MacBook Pro Retina Display, sending the photographer a notice saying it would not use the image.
Apple obtained Plaintiff's photograph from Plaintiff's agent, Factory Downtown. Apple requested a high-resolution file of this photograph for "comping" (or layout) purposes only, and was fully aware at all times that it had not acquired any rights to use the photograph in advertisements without obtaining additional permission from Plaintiff or Factory Downtown . Apple subsequently informed Factory Downtown that it did not intend to use the "Eye Closeup" photograph in the advertising campaign for Apple's MacBook Pro computers. Despite representing that it did not intend to use the photo and knowing that it had not obtained a license, Apple proceeded to copy, publish, and exploit Plaintiff's photograph, including in its MacBook Pro advertising campaign, keynote addresses and related advertising materials without permission or compensation. See eg Exhibit 2 below.
The photographer had already registered the image, had the copyright on it, and now to sue the Apple company accusing it of using that image without right in its promotional campaigns. Now Apple can remove the image from the stores and from its own website, but it will have to pay because it violated the photographer's rights in the past, and this will certainly not be cheap. No one knows why Apple chose to do this, but either someone made a mistake by sending that notification to the photographer, or those at Apple thought they could abuse the image without rights.
Regardless of the situation, Apple will pay for copyright infringement.
