Richard Liebowitz
Richard Liebowitz is an American lawyer and photographer[1] specializing in copyright law. He is known for filing a high number of lawsuits against media organizations on behalf of photographers who assert that their images have been used without permission. This practice has polarized the U.S. media industry.[2]
A Long Island native, Liebowitz worked as an intern for veteran New York press photographer Bruce Cotler. His experience with Cotler, about which he wrote a book,[3] and as a member of the New York Press Photographers Association motivated Liebowitz to pursue a career in copyright law.[2] He established his practice in New York and filed his first lawsuit in January 2016. He works on a contingency basis and has filed, on average, about five lawsuits per week.[2] Contrary to other copyright lawyers, his practice is to immediately file suit rather than pursue a settlement, and to claim statutory damages far in excess of the images' ordinary licensing prices.[2]
His approach to copyright litigation earned him a reputation as "the scourge of the media industry (...) and the salvation of the underpaid photographer", according to Slate.[2] Media organizations and their lawyers have asserted that Liebowitz is abusing the legal system by overloading the courts with dubious cases in which he attempts to leverage mistakes by overworked editorial staff into financial windfalls.[2] On occasion, courts have agreed: in one case, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered Liebowitz's client to pay the defendant's legal fees for what the judge considered "frivolous litigation",[2] and in another, Judge Denise Cote determined that Liebowitz was a "copyright troll", fined him and imposed ethics classes on him.[2][4] In 2019 a judge observed that "there is a growing body of law in this District" – the Southern District of New York – "devoted to the question of whether and when to impose sanctions on Mr. Liebowitz".[5]
Liebowitz has argued that copyright law is the only tool that photographers have to protect their rights and livelihood in a digital media environment in which images are often reused without regard to proper licensing.[2]
In April 2019 Leibowitz missed a court date in a copyright lawsuit. He told the court that he missed it due to the death of his grandfather. The court asked him to prove it, suspecting he was in fact missing hearings to run up legal costs for his opponent. As of November he has failed to do so, and is being fined $500 a day and threatened with incarceration.[6]
References
- ^ Cullins, Ashley (6 April 2018). "Has This Man Sued You? A "Copyright Troll" Takes on Hollywood". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Peters, Justin (24 May 2018). "Why Every Media Company Fears This Guy". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
- ^ Liebowitz, Richard P. (2006). Apprentice!: a teen learns lessons on the frontlines of life. New York, NY: New Voices Press. ISBN 978-0974810348.
- ^ Masnick, Mike (July 26, 2019). "Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz May Have Cost His Client A Ton Of Money, And Set An Expensive Precedent For Copyright Trolls". Techdirt. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
- ^ Cushing, Tim (October 2, 2019). "Copyright Troll Attorney Again Hit With Sanctions For Being A Shitty Lawyer". Techdirt. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
- ^ "Jason Berger v Imagina Consulting". Retrieved 7 November 2019.
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