August Image sues Bright Mountain Media, publisher of CafeMom, LittleThings, and MamasLatinas, over eighteen photographs

The complaint

August Image, LLC v. Bright Mountain Media, Inc., No. 9:26-cv-81469 (S.D. Fla.), was filed October 28, 2026 and is assigned to Judge Ed Artau. The plaintiff is August Image, LLC, a New York limited liability company with its principal place of business in New York, New York. The defendant is Bright Mountain Media, Inc., a Florida corporation that the complaint says does business as CafeMom, LittleThings, and MamasLatinas, with its principal place of business in Boca Raton, Florida. The complaint runs 18 pages. Jurisdiction is pleaded under 28 U.S.C. 1331 and 1338(a); venue under 28 U.S.C. 1400(a).

The works

The complaint describes August Image as an agency that represents more than one hundred contemporary photographers from offices in New York City and London. It asserts eighteen professional photographs, identified by August Image internal reference numbers and called collectively the Work, and it allocates ownership of particular photographs among the photographers it represents. It alleges each photograph was registered with the Register of Copyrights by its photographer-owner, with registration certificates attached as Exhibit B and a spreadsheet of registration numbers and alleged infringement screenshots as Exhibit A. It alleges written agreements give August Image exclusive rights in the Work, including rights to reproduce and distribute copies and to pursue infringements.

What the complaint alleges

It alleges that Bright Mountain owns and operates a digital publishing and media company through brands including CafeMom, LittleThings, and MamásLatinas, and that it displayed and published the Work on its website, webpage, social media, and/or printed media after the photographs were registered. It alleges, on information and belief, that the defendant located a copy of the Work on the internet and copied it for commercial use rather than contacting August Image for a license. It says August Image or its customer discovered the uses on October 29, 2023, and that August Image then notified the defendant in writing. In Count I it alleges the infringement was willful, pointing in part to the copyright notice on the defendant's own website.

Claims and relief requested

Count I seeks copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501 as to fourteen of the photographs (the First through Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth through Seventeenth Photographs). Count II seeks copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501 as to the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eighteenth Photographs. For Count I, the prayer asks for a declaration of infringement and of willfulness; actual damages and disgorgement of profits or, at the plaintiff's election, statutory damages for each photograph comprising the Work; costs and attorneys' fees under 17 U.S.C. § 505; interest; and a permanent injunction under 17 U.S.C. § 502. For Count II, the prayer asks for a declaration of infringement; actual damages and disgorgement of profits; costs under 17 U.S.C. § 505; interest; and a permanent injunction.