The latest copyright case in Trinidad and Tobago concerns the unauthorised use of photographs depicting the Calypso legend, Black Stalin. The High Court of Trinidad and Tobago awarded photographer/claimant, Angello Marcelle, the sum of $360,000 TTD for the unauthorised reproduction of his original photographs. To date the case remains unreported, so this blog post was constructed from news reports available here, here and here.

Background

The claimant took several photographs of Black Stalin at De Nu Pub in Woodbrook in 2011. The photograph in dispute was licensed for publication to the Trinidad Guardian in April 2011 and late the Trinidad Newsday in December 2022. The lawsuit concerned the defendant’s unauthorised use of the same photograph to promote a Black Stalin Tribute Concert held on 4 October 2024.

Decision

Given that the defendant did not appear before the High Court, default judgement was granted in favour of the claimant. Notwithstanding the default judgement, this decision follows in the footsteps of Drakes v Grant where another claimant photographer was also successfully able to argue for copyright infringement of his photograph in similar circumstances, also concerning the promotion of an event.

Take Aways

The preliminary take aways from this case include:

1) Courts are taking copyright and by extension other intellectual property rights seriously;

2) The time taken from filing a copyright claim to getting a decision is becoming more efficient, which bodes well for the enforcement of intellectual property rights;

3) There is a continued need for public education about intellectual property rights. In this case, the ins and outs of copyright ownership concerning photographs should be emphasised. The owner of a photograph in the absence of an employment situation or other written contractual agreement is the photographer. Furthermore, it must be stated that all third parties must seek permission to use the photograph including the person(s) that may be the subject matter of the photograph. This issue of persons being sued for using photographs of themselves (without permission, that they do not own) is well documented in the context of persona rights/image rights disputes that overlap with copyright law;  

4) It is interesting that in 2023, Black Stalin’s widow, the defendant in this case, issued a warning through her lawyer to desist using the intellectual property rights of Black Stalin without permission, or else legal proceedings may ensue. The irony is not lost on the defendant subsequently stating that she was unaware of the legal consequences of her actions and the lawsuit, in filing an appeal; and

5) It remains to be seen whether the award of damages, which is quite large, will remain intact. If it does, this will send a major signal to intellectual property owners and would be infringers about the value of intellectual property rights as a commodified asset.

Contact Clover® to conduct an IP audit or consult about your next project to ensure that you do not runafoul of third-party intellectual property rights as this can be very costly.