It has been such whirlwind in sports over the course of the last couple months, especially for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Sports Illustrated's Michael McCann reported on Monday that New York copyright attorney Richard Liebowitz has filed a lawsuit against the NBA superstar on behalf of Steve Mitchell. Mitchell took a picture of James throwing down a dunk over Meyers Leonard during the Heat-Lakers game on Dec. 13. The next day, James posted a cropped version of the picture on his social media accounts. To the court documents, photographer Steven Mitchell has taken action against LeBron James James and his companies, Uninterrupted Digital Ventures and LRMR Ventures, LLC. Mitchell, who is in the business of licensing his photographs for money, captured James’ picture while Lakers’ NBA fixture against the Miami Heat. Mitchell's has declared that James did not have the permission to use his picture.
“Defendants did not license the Photograph from Plaintiff for its Website, nor did Defendants have Plaintiff’s permission or consent to publish the Photograph on its Website,” Mitchell’s suit explains.
The photographer Mitchell has decided to sue James for copyright violation and has asked for $150,000 per breach. Mitchell reportedly had also asked James to pay him for the profits the basketball player has made from the Facebook
Photo: Getty Images