Gentlemen, Start Your Lawyers!

^{One of the disputed images of race car driver Danica Patrick, published here with the photographer's permission. Photograph by Edward McCain}

A Tucson, Arizona, sports photographer is suing Time Inc., Gannett, ESPN, Gawker Media and others in federal court, claiming they ripped off his popular photos of Danica Patrick, the Indy-car driver turned pin-up vixen.

In the suit, photographer George Edward McCain charges that the media companies unlawfully reproduced his photos of Patrick after receiving them as part of a publicity package from her team, Rahal Letterman Racing.

Rahal Letterman, jointly owned by racing legend Bobby Rahal and talk-show host David Letterman, unlawfully distributed the photos to the media outlets once Patrick became famous, according to McCain's lawyer, John Pelosi of New York.

McCain hasn't seen a dime in royalties from the dozens of reproductions at issue in the case, Pelosi said. Portfolio.com has reprinted one of the disputed photos above, with McCain's permission.

"I've never had to file a lawsuit before," McCain told Portfolio.com by e-mail. "In this case, the sheer number of illegal uses of some of my finest images came as a shock. The discovery of the widespread and systematic exploitation of my images without any consideration of my rights as the copyright holder was beyond anything I have ever experienced."

"In bringing the lawsuit," McCain said, "my motivation is to have my rights as an artist recognized and preserved."

The defendants have until August 24 to respond to the case, which is being heard by U.S. District Judge Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan. This Friday, Judge Rakoff will rule on a defense motion to relocate the case to California.

In 2002, Rahal Letterman Racing and one of its sponsors, Argent Mortgage Company, commissioned McCain to photograph then-unknown Indy car driver Danica Patrick for a promotional package.

In 2005, after Patrick finished fourth in the Indianapolis 500 and was named the Rookie of the Year for both that race and the entire 2005 IndyCar Series season, Rahal Letterman began distributing McCain's photos as part of its publicity package, according to the lawsuit.

Dozens of news outlets—including Time Warner's People and Sports Illustrated, Gannett's USA Today, and Gawker's Media's Jalopnik blog—reproduced the shots. They're all named as defendants in the suit.

Each instance of infringement carries a potential penalty of $150,000, Pelosi said. With about 30 individual cases of infringement listed in the lawsuit, McCain could reap damages of more than $4 million.

Pelosi told Portfolio.com that he would be willing to settle the case for less than that, but the defendants' intransigence had unnecessarily prolonged the case.

"Rahal Letterman has been very aggressive in blocking us from getting a simple resolution in this case," Pelosi said, adding that the racing company's actions have unnecessarily ensnared the media defendants in costly litigation.

"The third party defendants are on the hook because Rahal Letterman refused to admit their liability," Pelosi said.

A Rahal Letterman spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit.

by Sam Gustin