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The Ansel Adams Publishing Trust, which owns the copyright to Ansel
Adams’ work and his trademark, has filed suit to stop Rick
Norsigian and his lawyer from selling prints made from negatives
that Norsigian claims are the long lost work of Adams.
Norsigian, who bought the 65 negatives at a garage sale in Fresno
10 years ago,
announced in July that photography experts had proven the
negatives were Adams’ creation. He is now selling prints and
posters made from the images through a web site,
www.ricknorsigian.com. The Adams Trust disputes that the negatives
are Adams’ work, and accuses Norsigian and his lawyer, Arnold Peter
of PRS Media, of trademark infringement, false advertising,
false endorsement and violation of Adams’ right of
publicity.
In its lawsuit,filed
August 23 in the US District Court for Northern California, the
Adams Trust calls Norsigian’s claims that the negatives are Adams’
long lost works “dubious at best.” The Trust also claims there is
“substantial evidence” that the images were taken by photographer
Earl Brooks, and cites a recent
Los Angeles Times article in which Brooks's niece said she has
negatives that are identical to those Norsigian bought.
The Trust also says that, whoever created the images, Norsigian and
his lawyer are violating Adams’ trademark by using his name and
likeness to promote images printed “by someone who has no
affiliation with Ansel Adams or the Ansel Adams Trust and who
never worked with Mr. Adams.” Adams’ “brilliance in making prints
was legendary,” and his darkroom techniques were integral to his
artistic expression, The Trust asserts. Of the 44,000 negatives
Adams donated to the Center for Creative Photography at the
University of Arizona, he made prints of only 2,500 of them; “that
is, Mr. Adams’ standards were such that only one in about eighteen
negatives were ever selected for printing in his darkroom.”
According to the suit, using Adams’ name to sell unauthorized
prints constitutes false advertising.
The lawsuit claims that Norsigian had tried for years to prove that
his garage-sale negatives were Adams’ work. The suit alleges that
he offered Adams’ confidante and biographer Mary Alinder 25 percent
of any revenues from sales if she would authenticate the images;
she declined. According to The Trust, Norsigian’s luck changed
after he hired Peter and his company, PRS Media Partners LLC, an
entertainment law firm, which has helped produce a documentary film
about Norsigian and created a web site to handle print sales.
Lawyers for the Adams Trust are seeking an immediate injunction to
stop the sale of prints from Norsigian’s collection, and asked for
a jury trial to determine “compensatory and punitive
damages.”
Related Stories:
PDN Pulse, July 28, 2010: Ansel Adams' Print Dealers Cry Foul On
Sale of Negatives
PDN Pulse, July 27,2010:: $200 Million Ansel Adams Negs Found at
Garage Sale
