Sony Music Publishing has built its business around licensing creative work. However, a photographer is now accusing the music giant of using one of his photographs without permission.
Veteran photographer Al Satterwhite has filed a lawsuit against Sony over its alleged unauthorized use of his “iconic” 1974 portrait of Stevie Wonder on Instagram. The copyright infringement lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, seeks up to $150,000 in statutory damages.
The photograph shows Wonder seated at a piano during a 1974 photoshoot. Satterwhite says he later registered the image with the U.S. Copyright Office, securing exclusive rights to control and license its use. Nearly 50 years later, Sony Music Publishing allegedly featured the portrait in a 2023 Instagram carousel commemorating the 50th anniversary of Wonder’s Innervisions.
According to the lawsuit obtained by Billboard, Sony neither secured a license nor paid Satterwhite before sharing the photograph with its social media audience. He argues that the alleged infringement cost him more than a single licensing fee, allowing a major global music company to profit from his work while undermining his ability to license the photograph for future use.
Sony’s alleged infringement “has harmed, and continues to harm, the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work,” the complaint states, by “robbing Plaintiff of his exclusive right to license the copyrighted work for illustrative and other purposes.”
Satterwhite’s legal team also highlighted Sony’s extensive experience in the business of intellectual property. The lawsuit describes Sony Music Publishing as “a sophisticated media company that understands copyright law and the need to obtain a license to publish the copyrighted works of others.” Satterwhite maintains that the company knew, or should have known, that the photograph was protected by copyright before using it in the anniversary post.
The $150,000 being sought represents the maximum statutory damages available under federal law for willful infringement of a single copyrighted work. However, Satterwhite must still establish Sony’s liability and convince the court that the circumstances justify an award of that amount.
Stevie Wonder is not accused of any wrongdoing and is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Innervisions is Wonder’s 1973 album, which featured classics such as “Higher Ground” and “Living for the City” and earned him his first Album of the Year Grammy.
That win marked the beginning of a three-album Grammy-winning run, followed by Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life. Wonder is currently celebrating the latter album’s 50th anniversary with a tour.
This isn’t Satterwhite’s first legal battle over his photographic archive. Billboard reports that he has filed more than a dozen lawsuits alleging unauthorized use of his photographs featuring Wonder, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Brooks, and other notable personalities.
Last year, he also sued Berklee College of Music over another Stevie Wonder photograph from the same 1974 photoshoot, but voluntarily dismissed the case less than two months after filing.
