Steve Jobs Photographer Sues Over Iconic Photo

Photographer claims that his portrait of Steve Jobs was used without his permission

Albert M. Watson, the photographer who snapped the iconic photo of deceased Apple boss Steve Jobs that was used on Jobs' biography, is suing a pair of artists, claiming that they have used the image without his permission.

Watson filed suit against Alex Guofeng Cao and David Datuna in New York federal court on Tuesday, claiming that the pair had made unauthorized use of the image, which graced the cover of Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography "Steve Jobs."

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According to the complaint, Cao used Watson's copyrighted image for a January 2011 print tilted "Steve Jobs vs. Neil Armstrong, After Watson," which the suit says is "indistinguishable from the Photograph."

Datuna, meanwhile, allegedly directed Cao to create a single print of the photo titled "Steve Jobs-Ayn Rand," which was sold to a collector for $210,000 at the SCOPE Miami art festival.

Jobs died in 2011 at age 56, after a battle with cancer.

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Alleging copyright violation, as well as violations of the Lanham Act, Watson is seeking unspecified damages, plus the surrender of all infringing works by Cao and Datuna.

Cao has not yet responded to TheWrap's request for comment. Efforts to reach Datuna have been unsuccessful.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

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