Erickson Productions Inc v. Kraig R Kast

I. BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

1 This copyright action concerns a dispute over the unauthorized and unlicensed use of 2 Erickson’s photos on a website. The following is a brief summary of the facts of this case and its 3 procedural history. See Erickson, 921 F.3d at 826-829. The evidence presented at trial is 4 discussed in detail below in Section II. 5 Erickson is a professional photographer who licenses his photos through his company, 6 Erickson Productions. Kast is a California resident who owns various businesses, including 7 Atherton Trust, a real estate wealth management company. In 2010, Kast rehired website 8 developer Only Websites Inc. (“Only Websites”) to redevelop Atherton Trust’s website. In 9 connection with this project, Kast completed a questionnaire for Only Websites outlining his goals 10 for the website. He identified Wells Fargo Private Bank (“Wells Fargo”) as a competitor of 11 Atherton Trust and highlighted certain features of Wells Fargo’s website that he found appealing. 12 During the design process, Only Websites incorporated three photos from Wells Fargo’s website 13 into Atherton Trust’s developmental website. The photos had been taken…