A New York-based photographer is suing an Erie County resident and a Florida-based dietary supplement company, alleging they used an image he created without his authorization.
Andrew Paul Leonard of New York City filed a lawsuit July 21 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Stemtech International Inc. of Pemborke Pines, Fla., and EJ Morris of Erie.
According to the complaint, around 2001, Leonard created an image titled Bone Marrow Stem Cells Image 1 and he secured the exclusive rights and privileges to the copyright of the image. The suit says EJ Morris, as an independent distributor of Stemtech's products, willfully infringed on the copyright by using, copying, and displaying the Image on its Internet websites and in publications without authorization.
Leonard seeks statutory damages as well as attorney fees. He is represented by attorney Matthew W. Fuchs of MacDonald, Illig, Jones & Britton in Erie.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case number 1:15-cv-00185-BR.