Aerial Photographer Proves Clothing Brand’s Infringement of His Manhattan Skyline Image

Aerial photographer Bruce Cameron Davidson’s watermarked and copyrighted image of the Manhattan skyline which was at the center of the lawsuit. | Photo via court documents

An aerial photographer proved that his copyright was infringed after a clothing retailer used his image of the Manhattan skyline on its website without permission.

Bruce Cameron Davidson is a photographer who specializes in landscape and aerial images. In 2014, he took an aerial photograph of the Manhattan skyline and later registered the image with the U.S. Copyright Office.

In October 2024, Davidson filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Blankenship Dry Goods LLC, a clothing retailer that owns and operates the website blankenshipdrygoods.com. The photographer accused the company of displaying his image of the Manhattan skyline on its website to promote its products without a license or other authorization. Davidson also claimed that Blankenship unlawfully removed his copyright management information (CMI) from the aerial image, by deleting the watermark that identified him as the photographer.

According to a report by Vital Law, Blankenship asked the New York Federal court to dismiss Davidson’s case, arguing that the use of the image qualified as fair use. The district court rejected Blackenship’s argument, and an attempt by the clothing retailer to appeal that decision early was also dismissed. After the exchange of evidence, both sides asked a court to rule in their favor without a trial.

The New York federal court granted Davidson’s motion for summary judgment on liability for both copyright infringement and removal of CMI, according to Vital Law. As Blankenship provided no evidence to challenge that registration, the court concluded that Davidson owned the copyright as a matter of law. The court also further ruled in Davidson’s favor on the claim that Blankenship removed copyright management information. The original photograph displayed a watermark identifying Davidson and Blankenship’s owner Tony Lenzo acknowledged during his deposition that he understood what the watermark represented. However, the court declined to determine the amount of statutory damages at this stage.

It appears that Davidson has filed several copyright lawsuits in recent years involving alleged unauthorized uses of his aerial photographs. In June 2024, he sued Howard University, accusing its student newspaper The Hilltop of publishing his aerial image. Davidson claims the student newspaper used his photograph of Howard University in an article about a gas leak published in 2018. Davidson is seeking statutory damages and attorney’s fees for the alleged infringement. Davidson has also brought a separate lawsuit involving an aerial photograph he took of Apple’s headquarters in Silicon Valley. In that case, he alleges that 925, LLC, which operates several high-traffic websites, copied and distributed his image to advertise its products and services without permission.

Image credits: Header photo via court documents.