You may recall fellow movie news site IESB.net getting shut down by Paramount back in early May over an "unofficial" Iron Man pic, which incidentally wound up being used IN the movie. Well, now the litigious photog wants some money...
Technically, the legal battle is between Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment vs. paparazzo Ronnie Adams, who snapped the photo of an armored Robert Downey Jr. while the movie was still filming. IESB.net doesn't claim Adams as one of theirs, but nevertheless it was their site that got sent to time-out for posting the "exclusive" pic.
As movie producers wage constant war against potential spoilers, the studio "supposedly" demanded IESB.net and Adams remove the photo from their website, and eventually got to their web host, who yanked their account.
And then... his photo resurfaced--In the closing scenes of the Iron Man movie itself.
That’s according to Adams’ lawsuit, which claims that after all its complaining, Marvel used the copyrighted photo – after removing Adams’ watermark – in a scene in the movie, showing a newspaper article headlined “Who is this Ironman.” Fiscally savvy Adams, filing suit against the studios, now wants to get remunerated for his unsolicited efforts in contributing to this "pivotal scene."
I guess everyone wants to make a buck, huh? Don't you just love our litigious society?
