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Press photographer legal dispute continues

Posted December 13, 2007 10:00 pm

John Reynolds

The Illinois Press Association asked a Sangamon County judge Thursday to throw out a counterclaim lawsuit filed by the Illinois High School Association.

The legal action stems from an ongoing dispute between the IPA and the IHSA over access to public high school events and the selling of photographs taken at IHSA events.

Dave Bennett, executive director of the IPA, said his board met Dec. 7 and strengthened its resolve to challenge the IHSA's practice of limiting newspapers' access to public high school sporting events unless the newspapers agree to sign away ownership of their own photos.

"The IHSA is trying to control something it doesn't own," Bennett said. "And if we don't comply, they take away our constitutional rights to equal access to public events. We can't sit on the sidelines and let that happen. It's not up to the IHSA to determine what news is and how it's distributed."

The counterclaim was filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court by the IHSA Dec. 5. It asks the court to bar The State Journal-Register and two other newspapers - the Northwest Herald and the Peoria Journal Star - from selling photos of IHSA events and from taking photos at IHSA events for "non-news, commercial purposes."

The counterclaim asks the court to declare that the IHSA has a right to restrict newspapers from any non-news, commercial use of photos taken at IHSA events, and requests an injunction that would bar newspapers from advertising the sale of photos taken at IHSA events without written approval from the association.

Another count alleging that newspapers are "unjustly enriched" by selling photos asks for damages in excess of $50,000.

In November, the IHSA prohibited photographers from several newspapers from taking pictures on the field during the state football championships at the University of Illinois. The organization required papers that wanted media passes to sign an agreement limiting their photo rights.

The photographers were allowed in the press box and stands, but they were not give passes for the field when they would not sign the agreement.

According to the counterclaim, the IHSA has a licensing agreement with Visual Image Photography Inc. of Wisconsin to be its official photographer.

In exchange for the exclusive right to sell photos from state finals events, VIP Inc. makes its photos available for use to the IHSA at no charge.

"We made a good-faith effort to work with the IHSA on this issue," Bennett said. "We reached a compromise on some points but were still at odds over the secondary use of photos. We withdrew our legal motion for a preliminary injunction and agreed to discuss the secondary-use issue with our board on Dec. 7, but that wasn't good enough for the IHSA."

The IPA is asking the court to strike the IHSA's counterclaim on the basis it was improperly filed.

John Reynolds can be reached at (217) 788-1524 or john.reynolds@sj-r.com.

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