Photographer Sues Detroit Lions Over Use of Jared Goff High School Photos

A photographer has filed a lawsuit towards the Detroit Lions, alleging the NFL crew used his images of quarterback Jared Goff with out correct licensing.

Dennis Lee, who has labored as knowledgeable photographer for greater than twenty years, filed the criticism on August 20 within the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The go well with seeks monetary damages and a court docket order stopping the crew and its employees from displaying, distributing, or promoting the photographs.

According to court documents, the dispute facilities on three pictures taken in 2011 and 2012, which present Goff taking part in basketball and baseball at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, California. In the lawsuit, Lee says he owns the copyrights to the photographs and licenses his work by means of sports activities images websites comparable to MaxPreps and Scorebook Live.

“The license clearly states at the beginning that someone interested in using a photograph commercially is required to contact MaxPreps to request a quote for a commercial license,” the criticism reads. “No one from TDL (the Detroit Lions) ever contacted MaxPreps to obtain a commercial license to use the Goff Photos, and Lee never granted such a license.”

The lawsuit alleges that the Lions obtained the images below a non-commercial license and later posted them to their Instagram and X accounts on March 27, 2025, as a part of a put up recognizing the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 and Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. The posts have since been deleted. The social media accounts have a mixed following of practically 4 million customers.

Lee claims he was neither credited nor compensated for the posts and argues the Lions’ use constitutes industrial promotion as a result of their social media channels are used to market video games, gamers, and merchandise. The lawsuit states the unauthorized use prompted him “an enormous amount of lost licensing fees.”

The photos are described within the lawsuit as “rare and valuable,” with Lee believed to own a number of the solely recognized skilled images of Goff taking part in sports activities apart from soccer in highschool. Lee says he has registered the photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office.

A Lions spokesperson declined to remark when approached by CBS, citing the group’s coverage to not focus on pending authorized issues.

Last yr, PetaPixel reported on photographer Allen Kee who additionally sued the Lions and the NFL for allegedly utilizing his picture of former soccer star Barry Sanders to design a statue of him. Both events hit again at Kee calling his claims “meritless.” The case is pending.

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Image credit: All-Pro Reels / Joe Glorioso / CC BY-SA 2.0