Inclusion of photo in satirical blog posts ruled ‘transformative’ fair use

Commercial Litigation

By Paul B. Porvaznik

Paul B. Porvaznik is an attorney at Davis, McGrath LLC and practices primarily in the areas of commercial litigation, landlord-tenant law, mechanic’s liens and post-judgment enforcement.

Posted October 8, 2015 3:08 PM

A Miami businessman who co-owns the Miami Heat pro basketball team sued one of his former commercial tenants — a full-time blogger — for using an unflattering photograph in some 25 separate blog posts that derided Raanan Katz’s real estate business practices.The “embarrassing,” “ugly” and “compromising” photo (according to Katz) was taken by a photographer who originally published it online in Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. Defendant Irina Chevaldina later found the …

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