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 Bonnie Schiffman, who has snapped pictures of celebrities
including Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Steven Spielberg and
Andy Warhol, said Stewart, Caesars and several others replicated
her 1981 photo without permission or paying her, according to a
lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court on Thursday.
The photograph was used as the cover of Stewart's multi-platinum
1989 greatest hits album, "Storyteller."
"It has a powerful punch for the millions of fans that know that
album," said Schiffman's attorney, William Hochberg. "We think
that’s why they're using it."
Representatives for the 69-year-old Stewart could not be reached
for comment. A spokeswoman for Caesars said the company does not
comment on pending litigation.
The Caesars image is not the exact one captured by Schiffman,
but both show Stewart and his tousled spiky hair from the back.
Hochberg said that could still be called infringement.
"It's a rip off of the photo my client took," he said.
Stewart and his handlers offered Schiffman $1,500 in 2013 to use
her image for a billboard, but she balked at the low figure, the
suit said.
Later, Schiffman claimed, a replicated version of the image was
being used for the singer's Caesars Palace residency and world
tour, including in the shows themselves.
"Defendants have not only turned their back on Plaintiff," the
complaint said, "but also on the law."
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Schiffman, who is based in Los Angeles, is also seeking punitive
damages and an order to stop the defendants from using the image.
The case is Bonnie Schiffman v. Rod Stewart, Stewart Annoyances Ltd,
The Stiefel Office Ltd, Anschultz Entertainment Group Inc, and
Caesars Entertainment Corp, U.S. District Court for the Central
District of California, Western Division, No. 14-cv-6901.
(Reporting By Andrew Chung; Editing by Ted Botha and Tom Brown)
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