Steve Mitchell v. Lebron James

This case follows Steve Mitchell, a sports photographer, and NBA star LeBron James in a conflict involving the copyright of a photo.

Essentially, the photographer, Steve Mitchell, sued NBA player LeBron James for copyright infringement, asking for $150,000 because James posted a picture that Mitchell took on his social media platforms without Mitchell's permission. Lebron James countersued him for damages and attorney fees, asking for $1,000,000. Mitchell felt that by LeBron James posting the picture that he took without his permission infringed on his copyright, and since James often made money from his social media post, Mitchell thought James could possibly profit from his work without including him. While James believed that since the photo used his likeness, so long as he isn’t profiting from the use of the photo, then it's fair use for him to post the picture without permission. Which is not the case, but in the end, they ended up settling for an undisclosed amount of money outside of the courtroom.