Citation[]
Wilen v. Alternative Media Net, Inc., 2005 WL 167589, 74 U.S.P.Q.2d (BNA) 1053 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 26, 2005).
Factual Background[]
Defendant Alternative Media Net operated the website "tvchismes.com." Plaintiff Patrick Wilen, a professional photographer, alleged that defendant had removed the copyright notices from seven of his registered images and used the images in the membership section of the tvchismes.com website. Due to defendant's mismanagement of judicial procedure, plaintiff sought default judgment with respect to the copyright infringement claim.
The issue before the court was whether defendant's unauthorized use of seven images on its website constituted fair use.
Trial Court Proceedings[]
The court found that defendant's use of the images did not constitute fair use. The court determined that the only change defendant made to the images was the concealment of plaintiff's copyright management information. The court rejected defendant's claim that its use of the images was for purposes of parody.