LOS ANGELES — Playboy Enterprises International has another company in its legal crosshairs over photos of fashion model Kate Moss that appeared in its 60th Anniversary issue, this time suing Harper’s Bazaar for allegedly using the pics without permission.
Court documents issued by Playboy on Friday cited the fashion magazine’s publishing house Hearst Communications, claiming that Harper’s editors posted a photograph of Moss dressed in its trademark Playboy bunny ears outfit online, and also linked to website Entertainement.ie that posted nine copyrighted nude images of the star.
“Hearst's link to the Entertainment.ie website page cannot be justified by any suggestion that Hearst was reporting the news of Ms. Moss's appearance in the 60th Anniversary Issue.
“While Playboy welcomed the media's reporting and discussion of its images, Hearst well exceeded the bounds of mere news reporting in a flagrant bid to attract and drive Internet visitor traffic,” the suit says.
According to the New York Daily News, Hearst had no interest in settling the dispute amicably.
Playboy is reportedly seeking $150,000 per photograph for copyright infringement.
Last December, Playboy filed a suit at Los Angeles federal court against LeBook.com, claiming that it also used high-res pics of its January edition of Playboy magazine, including the 18-page pictorial of Moss.
Harper’s Bazaar has not yet issued a statement with regards to the suit.
