Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Forbidding Dissemination of Photograph of da Vinci Painting

A federal court recently issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting a website operator from displaying the only available photograph of a painting entitled Salvator Mundi, which was recently attributed to Italian Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci.

No one else has ever photographed the restored Painting and any future exhibition will prohibit photography. The copyright in the Photograph is held by SMLLC.

Prior to filing suit, SMLLC sent a cease and desist letter. Sotka replied that the image she uploaded was in the public domain: “It is most likely that [SMLLC is] not familiar with US copyright law, but should they continue with the unlawful claim to copyright of the public domain image... it would give me some satisfaction to give it away....”

According to SMLLC, the photographer had to make “countless” creative judgments that “conveyed a specific artistic impression of the Painting.”