In 2019, Justice Fuhrer held that Rallysport Direct’s copyright in 1,430 photographs had been infringed by its former authorized wholesaler. Rallysport, an American company that sells aftermarket automotive parts and accessories both to wholesalers and direct to consumers, had several employees take thousands of photos of those parts and accessories which were then hosted on its website. The cost of producing those photos is about $109 USD per photo, and the cost of acquiring the products featured in all the photos ranged from $224,055 to $240,059 USD.
Rallysport’s former authorized wholesaler scraped photos from Rallysport’s website for the wholesaler’s use to promote its own business. When Rallysport found out, it objected to the use of its photos and terminated its relationship with the wholesaler. In response, the wholesaler continued using the photos and Rallysport commenced a copyright infringement claim. During the proceeding, the wholesaler’s principals incorporated a new entity and transferred the wholesaler’s website content to the new entity.
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