PHILADELPHIA – A local television news anchor suing for allegedly improper use of her image on commercial websites across the Internet is seeking to add a new defendant to her lawsuit, according to a recent filing in the case.
“Good Day Philadelphia” anchor Karen Hepp has taken issue with social sites like Facebook and Reddit for featuring an image taken without her knowledge on several commercial websites, including one on an ad for erectile dysfunction.
Hepp first filed her complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Sept. 4, suing Facebook, Imgur, Reddit, Giphy, WGCZ S.R.O. and the owners of various websites and media outlets, named in the lawsuit as Does 1-10, for alleged violation of the state’s Right of Publicity statute.
Hepp alleged that her co-workers informed her two years ago that a security camera caught a snapshot of her in a New York City convenience store. That photo is said to have been used in online ads for erectile dysfunction as well as dating websites and other avenues, according to the lawsuit.
The picture was also included in a Facebook ad that implored users to “meet and chat with single women,” based on the complaint. Imgur allegedly posted the photo with the word “milf,” an inappropriate term related to attractive women with kids.
Reddit allegedly featured the photo in a subgroup called r/obsf.
Hepp also alleged, “The photo was modified and featured on Giphy wherein a video appears in the background of a man – who is hiding behind a glass commercial freezer door and masturbating – to what would appear, from his perspective, to the backside of the plaintiff.”
Lastly, the picture also made its rounds on XNXX in the “milf” gallery.
Hepp asked the court to bar the defendants and their related entities from publishing the photo, and to make them remove the ones that are currently present on their sites. She also wants the defendants to have to show how much money they made from using her image.
Several of the defendants have motioned to have themselves dismissed from the case. One of them, Imgur, took such action when it filed a response dismissal motion for lack of jurisdiction on Jan. 24.
Giphy, Inc., Reddit and Facebook filed similar motions to dismiss shortly thereafter – with Giphy alleging Hepp’s claims were prohibited by a lack of personal jurisdiction, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and were time-barred by the two-year statute of limitations, among other objections, before the company was successful in securing its dismissal motion last week.
Those motions to dismiss from Giphy, Reddit and Facebook proved successful on June 5.
On May 28, a notice of partial voluntary dismissal was filed by WGCZ, which asserted a similar argument to Imgur as to the court lacking jurisdiction over it.
“This action should be dismissed because there is no personal jurisdiction over defendant WGCZ. WGCZ has no intentional connections to Pennsylvania – no business, no property, no officers, no employees, and no bank accounts – so no general jurisdiction exists,” according to the company’s dismissal motion.
“Nor can plaintiff show specific jurisdiction. Plaintiff has claimed that her publicity rights were violated by a third-party user’s alleged posting of her photograph on the XNXX.com website. But WGCZ does not own or operate that website, so it cannot form the basis of jurisdiction over WGCZ. WGCZ should be dismissed from this action.”
WGCZ explained that is a company based in the Czech Republic, with no connections to Pennsylvania, and therefore, is not subject to any jurisdiction here. Additionally, WGCZ says it has not owned or operated XNXX since 2014 and it is now operated by a company called NKL Associates.
As a result, Hepp filed on June 11 to have NKL Associates as a defendant in the action in place of WGCZ, plus add a count for successor liability.
“There is scant public information regarding WGCZ’s connection to xnxx.com, and that which does exist certainly permitted plaintiff to rely upon it. As a factual matter, Robert Seifert’s own declaration is contradictory, as he claims NKL owned the xnxx.com website since 2014, but WGCZ’s WIPO representations show otherwise,” counsel for Hepp stated.
“Moreover, both NKL and WGCZ have common officers and a common address. There is a colorable case for successor liability here and plaintiff should be afforded leave to add this count along with the new party, NKL. Discovery will bear out the full interconnectedness of these two entities.”
For counts of violating the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Right to Publicity statute, the plaintiff is seeking a yet-to-be precisely determined award in excess of $10 million.
The plaintiff is represented by Samuel B. Fineman of Cohen Fineman in Cherry Hill, N.J.
The defendants are represented by Dennis Wilson and Tywanda Harris Lord of Kilpatrick Stockton in Beverly Hills, Calif. and Atlanta; Aditya V. Kamdar, Joseph C. Gratz and Vera Ranieri of Durie Tangri in San Francisco; Barry L. Cohen of Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld, Michael D. LiPuma of LiPuma Law; Bonnie M. Hoffman and Thomas Nelson Brown of Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller; Daniel Gross and Samuel W. Silver of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, all in Philadelphia; plus Michael Zeller and Rachel Kassabian of Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Los Angeles and Redwood Shores, Calif.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:19-cv-04034
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com