Alan Satterwhite, a photographer, has sued Sony Music Publishing (SMP), alleging the company posted one of his photographs of Stevie Wonder on Instagram without a license. The copyright infringement complaint was filed on Sunday (Nov. 8) against the Sony Music Entertainment unit.
The disputed post#
Satterwhite shot a series of photographs of Wonder seated at a piano in 1974. According to the lawsuit, SMP included one of those images in a 2023 Instagram carousel marking the 50th anniversary of Wonder’s 1973 album Innervisions. The complaint describes the photograph as “iconic.”
The album Innervisions peaked at No. 4 on a major album chart and spent a total of 89 weeks on it.
Claimed harm and damages#
Satterwhite argues that the use “has harmed, and continues to harm, the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work by robbing Plaintiff of his exclusive right to license the copyrighted work for illustrative and other purposes.” He is seeking the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for copyright infringement.
An SMP spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Satterwhite’s earlier suits#
Satterwhite has filed more than a dozen previous lawsuits over unauthorized uses of his photographs of Wonder and other famous subjects, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mel Brooks. Defendants in those cases have included Amazon, Complex, CBS Radio and the Berklee College of Music.
SMP and songwriting disputes#
SMP is the world’s largest music publisher. It is more often drawn into court cases over songwriting than into disputes about image licensing. Last month, the owners of Bill Withers’ catalog filed a copyright lawsuit claiming that “I’ve Seen It” by Olivia Dean, an artist linked to SMP, copies “Just the Two of Us.”
