KANSAS CITY – Cornell Roofing & Sheet Metal Company is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by a Missouri artist who claims the company used his copyrighted portfolio depicting Kansas City’s downtown revitalization.
In a June 5 complaint filed against Cornell Roofing and owner Mary E. McNamara in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Eric Bowers accuses the company of copying his work from the internet to promote the business.
“After defendants copied the work, they made further copies and distributed the work on the internet to promote the sale of goods and services as part of their roofing business,” the lawsuit said.
According to the complaint, Bowers has worked on the portfolio since 2009 and is the “go to” artist for poster-quality images of downtown revitalization requested by architects, builders, magazines and other professionals. The work at issue is two photographs taken of the One Light Tower in Kansas City that depicts the defendants’ roofing work.
“To create the work, Bowers used professional-grade photography equipment that he purchased for thousands of dollars,” the lawsuit said. “Bowers had to put significant time into staging and executing both images.”
The complaint also noted that Bowers invested “many hours” editing the shots and used professional editing software he purchased “at great expense.”
“The minimum fee for the time and use-limited license of the works that defendants used without permission in this case is more than $1,000 per individual image,” the lawsuit alleges.
Bowers reportedly notified the defendants about the allegations in September 2017 and tried to settle the dispute “amicably and for a minimum expense.”
“Defendants have not resolved the dispute,” the complaint said.
Bowers, who is represented by Ethan W. Gee of Ross & Voytas LLC in St. Louis, is asking the court for “damages and defendants’ profits attributable to the infringement” and other relief.