The complaint

Image Professionals GmbH d/b/a StockFood v. 6517 Freshpond Corp d/b/a Rustico Taverna and Slice Solutions, Inc. d/b/a Slice, No. 1:26-cv-05598 (E.D.N.Y.), is a 9-page complaint filed September 10, 2026, ECF No. 1. The plaintiff is a German limited liability company based in Munich that operates the StockFood food-image library. 6517 Freshpond Corp, the corporate name as the caption gives it, is a New York corporation based in Flushing, New York, that does business as Rustico Taverna; the complaint says it owns and operates an Italian restaurant. Slice Solutions, Inc. is a Delaware corporation that the complaint describes as providing online ordering, website, and marketing tools for independent pizza restaurants. The complaint pleads one count of copyright infringement.

The work

StockFood alleges a contributor photographer created a photograph of a plate of fried calamari with a lemon wedge titled "11129170". Exhibit A identifies Registration No. VA 1-434-120 with a June 10, 2013 registration date and links to the accused menu pages on slicelife.com. Exhibit B is the Certificate of Registration. The Copyright Office public catalog lists VA 1-434-120 as a group registration for an automated database titled Stockfood America, published quarterly from October 1 to December 31, 2012, with a registration date of June 10, 2013. The complaint says StockFood America registered the Work, and it says StockFood America assigned its copyrights and registrations to Image Professionals in November 2020, and that written contributor agreements convey exclusive rights and the right to sue.

What it alleges

The complaint alleges that after registration the defendants displayed the Work on websites, webpages, social media, and/or printed media to advertise Rustico Taverna, including on a Slice-powered custom menu page that Slice allegedly owned and controlled. It alleges, on information and belief, that Slice employees or agents caused the display for Rustico Taverna's benefit, and it alleges that Rustico Taverna reviewed and approved the content. It further alleges, on information and belief, that the defendants found the Work online and copied it for commercial use without seeking a license. StockFood says it discovered the use in June 2024 and notified Rustico Taverna in writing, and it alleges willfulness.

Relief sought

StockFood asks for declarations that the defendants infringed and that the infringement was willful, actual damages and disgorgement of profits or, at its election, statutory damages, costs and attorneys' fees under 17 U.S.C. § 505, interest, and a permanent injunction under 17 U.S.C. § 502.

Docket activity

Summonses issued September 11, 2026 (ECF No. 4), and two summonses were returned executed on September 22, 2026 (ECF Nos. 7 and 8). Notices of appearance followed on September 29 and October 7, 2026, along with two requests for more time to answer, and orders on those requests were entered October 1 and October 8, 2026. A scheduling order was entered October 2, 2026 (ECF No. 12), and a substitute attorney filing was entered November 3, 2026 (ECF No. 16).