Rockefeller Photos sues Spicy Affair, a Swedesboro restaurant, over a vegetable kabob food photograph

The complaint

Rockefeller Photos, LLC v. Spicy Affair Incorporated, No. 1:26-cv-13784 (D.N.J.), was filed October 22, 2026 and is assigned to Judge Karen M. Williams, with Magistrate Judge Sharon A. King. The complaint is signed by Daniel DeSouza of CopyCat Legal PLLC. It pleads jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1331 and 1338(a) and venue under 28 U.S.C. 1400(a).

The parties and the photograph

Rockefeller Photos is described as a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The complaint alleges that Prepared Food Photos, Inc., formerly Adlife Marketing & Communications Co., Inc., through a staff photographer, created the photograph, titled VegetableKabob001, 04-15-2001, and that the company registered it and owns it. It alleges that under a December 12, 2024 agency agreement the company made Rockefeller Photos the exclusive licensor and distributor of its image library and conveyed to it the exclusive right to pursue infringement claims, including for infringements that began before the agreement was signed. Spicy Affair Incorporated is described as a New Jersey corporation that owns and operates a restaurant in Swedesboro.

The registration

Copyright Office records list the photograph as one of 250 photographs in group registration VA 2-019-412, effective September 29, 2016, covering photographs published from January 14, 2001 through December 30, 2001. The record names Adlife Marketing & Communications Co., Inc. as author, as employer for hire, and as claimant. The complaint identifies the registration in Exhibit B, which is not on the public docket, and alleges that Spicy Affair displayed the photograph on a date after the registration.

What it alleges

The complaint alleges that Spicy Affair displayed the photograph on its website, social media, food ordering platforms, and/or printed media to advertise its business without a license, and, on information and belief, that it found the photograph on the internet and copied it. It alleges that Rockefeller Photos and/or Prepared Food Photos first discovered the use on October 24, 2023 and then notified Spicy Affair in writing. The single count pleads direct, vicarious, and/or contributory copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. 501 and alleges the infringement was willful, pointing in part to the "©2024 Spicy Affair" notice on the restaurant's website.

Relief sought

Rockefeller Photos asks for declarations that Spicy Affair infringed and that the infringement was willful, actual damages and disgorgement of profits under 17 U.S.C. 504(b) or, at its election, statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. 504(c) for each photograph comprising the work, costs and reasonable attorneys' fees under 17 U.S.C. 505, interest including prejudgment interest, and a permanent injunction under 17 U.S.C. 502.