The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Violent Hues in a copyright infringement action brought by plaintiff, a commercial photographer, alleging that Violent Hues made an unlicensed use of one of his photographs on its website. The photograph at issue, “Adams Morgan at Night,” was uploaded from the image-sharing website Flickr.

The court rejected Violent Hues’ fair use defense and held that none of the fair use factors weigh in favor of Violent Hues. In this case, Violent Hues’ reproduction of the photo was non-transformative and commercial; the photo merits thick protection and the published status of the photo was not relevant here; and Violent Hues used roughly half of the photo and kept the most expressive features of the work. Accordingly, the court remanded for further proceedings. View “Brammer v. Violent Hues Productions, LLC” on Justia Law