Golden Boy Promotions and its fellow defendants have reached a settlement with fight photographer Tom Hogan. Hogan’s lawsuit accused the owner and publisher of The Ring magazine, as well as Getty Images, of copyright infringement.
The settlement was first reported by Law360, and subsequently publicized by attorney and boxing manager Kurt Emhoff.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2024 and centered around a photo Hogan took of heavyweight fighter Lennox Lewis in 1997. At some point, Getty Images — a service that licenses images for re-use — began to list Hogan’s photo, although Hogan’s creation and ownership of that photo weren’t mentioned in the listing. Hogan said he never submitted the photo to Getty nor authorized anyone to do so on his behalf.
Instead, Getty had allegedly received the image from the publication — the photo’s listing on Getty’s website credited “The Ring Magazine,” which was purchased by the promotional company in 2007.
In August 2023, Hogan learned about his photo being on Getty.
Prices for someone to purchase a license to the photo ranged from $175 to $499, depending on the size. In a July court filing, Getty said it had licensed the photo just one time, in June 2019, and paid a royalty for that licensing to Sports and Entertainment Publications, a Golden Boy subsidiary which acts as the magazine’s publisher.
The defendants said any copyright infringement was unintentional.
The lawsuit does not indicate when the photo was provided to Getty.
The defendants’ attorney told Law360 that the settlement was confidential and declined to comment. Reached by BoxingScene, a spokesperson for Golden Boy Promotions also declined comment.
Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.