Adler v. Her Campus Media, LLC (19-cv-10087).

Judge Saylor denied Her Campus Media 2019s motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment, finding it premature to determine whether the use of Adler 2019s photograph constituted fair use or that Her Campus Media was shielded by the safe harbor provisions. Judge Saylor noted that the complaint alleges that Her Campus Media, which accepts and posts content from non-employees, utilizes an editorial staff to review proposed publications, including the submission that included the Adler photograph, and that a review of fair use and safe harbor would turn on facts such as the nature of the relationship between the website and its student contributors that preclude a finding at this early stage of the proceeding, much as it did in a different case involving Her Campus Media with a very similar fact pattern. Judge Saylor also denied the motion with respect to Mass. G.L. c. 214, 00a7 3A, which provides a civil cause of action for any person whose name, portrait or picture is used in Massachusetts for advertising or trade without their consent. Her Campus Media asserted that, because the subject of the photographs had an independent right to their likenesses that Adler had not secured, an award of money damages to Adler would not be proper. Judge Saylor found this to be legally incorrect, because (a) Her Campus Media lacked the right to enforce the subjects 2019 rights under the Massachusetts law; (b) court-awarded monetary damages for copyright infringement would not qualify as a 201cuse for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade 201d within the meaning of the Massachusetts law; and (c) to the extent the Massachusetts law did somehow prevent an award for copyright infringement, it would likely be preempted by copyright law.