Halifax photographer blasts company for ongoing, unauthorized use of his iconic photo

A Halifax photographer is posting on social media about an ongoing conflict with a linen company over the unauthorized use one of his images — three years after his lawyers got involved.

In a Facebook post published last week, freelance photographer Adam Cornick said his image, titled Hockey Night at Peggy's Cove, has been used on blankets against his wishes. The blankets were sold across the country after he took the shot featuring the famed lighthouse in 2018. 

When he was informed about the products, created by the Montreal-based Linen Corp., Cornick said he sought legal help and in 2019, sent out several cease and desist letters to the company and stores the blanket was seen in. 

He said in an interview that the stores that received letters assured him they would pull the blankets from shelves.  Linen Corp. also responded and said it would stop importing and selling the products. 

"Despite hearing that they pulled their stock from shelves, I continuously [got] emails from people [asking] 'have you seen this? Have you seen this?' And showing me photographs, from Kelowna, B.C., Fort McMurray, Alta., Ontario, right across the Maritimes, so they're everywhere," Cornick said in an interview. 

Things eventually settled, he said, as the company pulled the stock. But Cornick said he got a message from someone who saw the blanket being sold in a dollar store in Bridgewater earlier this month. 

"That's when I kind of thought, 'enough is enough.' This is now three years of this, and it's clearly still in circulation, so I went public with it with that Facebook post." 

Company artist created 'similar design', says company founder 

Cornick's photo shows two people playing ice hockey, with the well-known Peggys Cove lighthouse in the background. 

Images of the blanket show some of the elements of the original image flipped and one of the hockey players moved closer to the other to fit within the dimensions of the blanket. 

Gary Shinder, who founded Linen Corp, said in an interview that at the time, one of the artists with Linen Corp made "a similar design" to Cornick's image, adding that they made around 400 pieces of the blanket with that design. 

When Linen Corp was served the cease and desist order, Shinder said they sent out notice to the company's distributors, asking for those blankets to be returned to Linen Corp or destroyed.

Shinder guessed that some blankets "slipped through" their initial attempts to pull the product from shelves. 

"One hundred per cent, emphatically, we never imported or made this throw ever again," he said. "What else would you like me to do… if stragglers are still appearing on the shelves? What else do you want us to do?" 

'Due diligence' not enough in copyright context, lawyer says 

David Fraser, a lawyer who specializes in Canadian internet, technology and privacy law, said in an interview that his take on the case is that Linen Corp bears the responsibility of removing all the stock from the shelves, especially after being given notice. 

He said if he were representing a photographer in such a case, he would ask for a full breakdown of profit and revenue accounting from the company. 

"So you sold 30 blankets and you sold them at 100 bucks each? I want the proper compensation due to my clients … particularly because I would argue that any sales after a cease and desist letter would be willful.

"Due diligence actually doesn't cut it and isn't particularly relevant in a copyright context," Fraser said. 

Next steps for Cornick 

The "dream" resolution to the matter would allow him to make a donation to Feed Nova Scotia, Cornick said, because proceeds from sales of the photo were given to the charity organization when the image was taken in 2018. 

He said he raised more than $3,000 that was given to Feed Nova Scotia.

"Hopefully it's not the conclusion, but it would just be nice to restore to how I wanted that image to be portrayed and seen and felt as an artist, not on someone else's product in a place that I don't want being sold."