Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Annie get your camera

Celeb photog Annie Leibovitz may be losing the copyright to all her photographs and all her homes today...

Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz may be better off declaring bankruptcy than battling a creditor suing her for breaching a contract related to a $24 million loan, bankruptcy experts said.

Art Capital Group, a New York-based company that makes loans using art as collateral, extended Leibovitz $22 million in September 2008 backed by the rights to her photographs and real estate in Manhattan and Rhinebeck, New York, court papers said. Three months later, she got $2 million more, according to a suit filed last week in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The financing company sued Leibovitz, alleging she refused to cooperate in the sale of the copyrights to her photographs and won’t give real-estate agents access to her properties for sale. Leibovitz has to repay the loan with interest and other expenses by Sept. 8, according to the suit.
Read it in Bloomberg here.

Update: More troubles:
Last week she came under fresh financial pressure when an Italian photographer sued her for allegedly stealing images he took.

Paolo Pizzetti sued Leibovitz in federal court in Manhattan, alleging she took material he shot at sites in Rome and Venice for her own use in an advertising campaign.
Read that here.