Litigation

Plastic Surgeon Lifts Copyrighted Photos From Competing Surgeon's Website

By H. William Allen et al.

The District Court of Nebraska denied a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in Denenberg v. Djordjevic, 2007 WL 4525011 (D. Neb. 12/18/07).

Dr. Steven Denenberg is a plastic surgeon in Omaha, Nebraska. Like many in his profession, he posts before/after photographs on his website to promote his work. Denenberg obtained a copyright registration. Dr. Borko Djordjevic, a competing surgeon in California, copied  over 30 pairs of these photos and posted them on his websites as examples of his own work. Denenberg filed suit for copyright infringement, and Djordjevic moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

The court easily denied the motion to dismiss. Djordjevic used the photos to solicit clients in Nebraska. Moreover, he knew he had not performed the surgeries and publishing the photos on his website would cause harm to Denenberg in Nebraska.

Full post as published by Arkansas Business Litigation Blog on January 02, 2008 (boomark / email).