A German stock photography company has sued a Hot Springs donut shop, alleging the business used a copyrighted iced coffee photo in its advertising without permission.
Image Professionals GmbH, doing business as StockFood, filed the copyright infringement lawsuit Sept. 3 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas against Reaksmey LLC, doing business as Delicious Donuts.
The complaint says Delicious Donuts, located at 1124 Malvern Ave., used the photograph on a website, webpage, social media, printed material or other advertising to market the business. The image is identified in the lawsuit as a professional photograph of iced coffee titled “00647675.”
Image Professionals says it licenses food images, videos and recipes through StockFood and has a collection of about 1 million images from 1,500 photographers. The lawsuit says the company obtained rights to the image through agreements with contributing photographers and through a 2020 transfer from StockFood America Inc.
The company alleges Delicious Donuts was never licensed to use or display the photo and did not seek permission before using it commercially. Image Professionals says it discovered the alleged unauthorized use in February 2025 and notified the business in writing.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that Delicious Donuts infringed the copyright and that the infringement was willful. It seeks actual damages and profits, or statutory damages, along with attorneys’ fees, costs, interest and a permanent injunction barring further use of the image.
The complaint does not specify a dollar amount. A response from Reaksmey was not included in the filing.
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