A federal court has thrown out a significant portion of Carol Highsmith’s lawsuit against Getty Images.  Highsmith’s complaint alleged that Getty had improperly demanded license fees for images that it did not own, of which Highsmith was the author and copyright holder.

As we reported here this summer, this case arose when Highsmith received a letter demanding payment for use of a photo which she herself had taken.  At this point, Highsmith became aware that Getty was licensing, without her permission, photographs that she had donated to the Library of Congress as free for public use.

Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York granted some, but not all, of Getty’s motion to dismiss Highsmith’s first amended complaint, dismissing all Lanham Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act claims, but allowing state law claims under the New York General Business Law § 349 (directed to unlawful deceptive acts and practices in the conduct of business, trade or commerce) to survive.    Judge Rakoff did not issue a lengthy memorandum, noting only that “[a] memorandum explaining the reasons for these rulings will issue in due course.”

In a statement, Highsmith’s attorneys maintained that the Getty’s actions in licensing Highsmith’s photographs constituted “public and deceptive enforcement activities, all undertaken without Ms. Highsmith’s consent,” and that they look forward to litigating the state law claims.