Associated Press and Photographer Sued for Selling Photograph of Person as a Stock Photo

On December 16, 2015, Fifi Youssef was photographed by photographer Mark Lennihan while looking down at her cellphone in a Starbucks.  Youssef was wearing a hijab.  The photo was subsequently made available for license on the Associated Press (AP) website as a stock image and classified by the keywords “hijab”, “Muslim” and “Islam”.  On December 21, 2015 the Washington Post licensed the photo and used it in a piece entitled “As Muslim women, we actually ask you not to wear the hijab in the name of interfaith solidarity”.

On January 20, 2016, Youssef filed a lawsuit in the state of New York claiming against Lennihan and the AP for unauthorized use of her photograph.  Specifically, Youssef is accusing Lennihan and the AP of violating section 51 of New York State’s Civil Rights Law, which prohibits use of a person’s name, portrait, picture or voice (identifying information) for advertising or trade purposes without their written consent and entitles a person to recover damages for such unauthorized uses.  A lengthy list of legislative and judicial exceptions exist, including, among others, uses that are “newsworthy” and uses in a work of art.

In Canada, personality rights can be enforced through common law and statutory torts (based both in property and privacy).  Exceptions vary but generally include uses that are in the public interest (or in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, would reasonably be believed to be in the public interest).

For news reports on this story, follow these links:

       Washington Post

       NY Daily News