A Los Angeles photographer claims the makers of movie Iron Man illegally used one of his photos in the summer blockbuster as part of a mock newspaper front page.

Freelance photographer Ronnie Adams, who shoots for the JFX paparazzi agency, filed a lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

The suit accuses Marvel and Paramount, the studios that produced and distributed Iron Man, of unlawfully infringing Adams's copyright and engaging in unfair competition.

Adams claims the infringement occurred after Paramount Pictures managed to briefly shut down a Web site where he had posted the photo. The scene with the mock newspaper was later featured in a publicity still distributed by Paramount.

According to the suit, Adams shot a series of photos from a parking structure with a view of the Iron Man set in May 2007. He shot several photos of the Iron Man costume seen through a chain-link fence.

Adams sent the photos to a Web site run by a friend, the movie news site IESB.net, where they appeared in a photo gallery with prominent watermarks. Adams believes that this is the only place the infringe photo was published prior to the infringement.

Paramount contacted the Web site the same day and asked that the photograph be removed. The movie studio eventually persuaded the site's hosting company to take the site offline for 16 hours, Adams's lawsuit says. Later, Parmount told the site operator it had erred in insisting the photo be taken down, and proposed compensation for the site's downtime, though no agreement was reached, according to the lawsuit.

A year later, the picture showed up on the front page of a newspaper used as a prop in the Iron Man movie and in a publicity photo.

The photo appears in a scene in which the lead character, Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., reads a newspaper front page that says "Who is the Iron Man?" The photo on the front of the newspaper is nearly identical to the one Adams claims is his, with the only obvious difference being the missing watermark.

The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, as well as an order stopping Paramount and Marvel from using the picture in the DVD release of the movie, in advertising and in any video game.

A Paramount spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Marvel's P.R. firm referred a call back to the company, where a person in the legal department said the company could not comment on legal matters.