The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted in part and denied in part copyright infringement claims brought by plaintiff, a professional photographer, against a publisher of textbooks and other related educational materials, alleging that defendant exceeded its licenses to use plaintiff’s photographs in its publications.

Defendant entered into several licensing agreements with various photo bureaus. Although defendant contracted with the photo bureaus, plaintiff retained the registered copyright for the photographs. Plaintiff alleged that on numerous occasions defendant exceeded the allowed print run for the photographs under the licensing agreements without first seeking plaintiff’s prior authorization or paying an additional licensing fee.