On Thursday, plaintiff Prepared Food Photos, Inc. (PFP) filed a complaint against defendant T&C Markets, Inc. in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, alleging copyright infringement against the defendant for the alleged use of its copyrighted images.
According to the complaint, the defendant is a large grocery store chain, while the plaintiff is a retail food advertising company that works with retailers across the country.
The plaintiff contends that “T&C copied PFP’s copyrighted works from the internet in order to advertise, market and promote its business activities.”
Some of the purportedly infringing content are images of well-cooked pork loin and chicken drumsticks dishes that are meant to purvey an appetizing image. These images were copyrighted in 2017 by the plaintiff, but were never licensed out to the defendant at any time.
PFP claims it was not commissioned to produce the images for any specified customer nor were the images meant to serve any purpose other than to be used as examples of its work.
The plaintiff also asserts that it was not aware of the defendant’s alleged copyright infringement until 2019 and that the defendant acted in a “willful” manner when using the images for its own gains.
T&C Markets is facing only one count of copyright infringement.
PFP is being represented by Sriplaw.
