When you wish to use photos taken by a professional photographer either for personal use or for marketing purposes, you either need to pay the royalties, or credit the photographer by citing their name, no nother else. Because if you don’t, you can find yourself in a copyright infringement lawsuit.
Like how Uber Eats is getting themselves involved in right now.
These photographer are not the most highest-paid people around, so it extremely hurts for them if somebody else uses their photos without their permission. It’s like stealing a painting from a museum!
Recently, a group of food photographers have been given the go-signal to proceed with suing Uber Eats with copyright infringement over the alleged use of their photos for their business. Yikes!
Last year, a case was filed by over 20 professional photographers against Uber in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. They are accusing Uber Eats of infringing their copyrights by displaying their food photographs without permission.
The photographers are certain they never permitted Uber Eats with ownership to the images, alleging that Uber Eats copied and used their photographs on their official website to advertise or promote their business, and sell their items and services. What’s worse, they are claiming that the food delivery app shared the images with its employees, contractors, customers and business partners. Oh, no!
However, last April 2026, the court dismissed the photographers’ claims, as well as those claims relating to dozens of unregistered photographs that were not adequately alleged to be foreign works.
But, it’s not over until it’s really over.
Judge Beth Bloom of the USA District Court for the Southern District of Florida re-visited this case to enable a recent ruling, giving the go-signal and the chance for these photographers to proceed with the lawsuit.
Bloom rejected Uber’s casino ads, or rather argument that it cannot he held liable for images uploaded to its platform by third-parties.
On the side of Uber Eats that’s asking to dismiss the lawsuit, they are arguing that the photographers never asserted their rights over the images.
However, Judge Bloom ruled that Uber Eats still uploaded the images without the photographers’ permission. She also found that Uber’s alleged practice of reviewing images before publication, and its contractual right to reject, remove, or modify them, suggested it could prevent copyright infringement.
Bloom also did not go with Uber’s argument that the photographers failed to demonstrate their financial benefit from those images. The photographers are saying Uber Eats earned profits from those photos that would have been alright if Uber Eats bought royalties for them.
In the complex word of copyrights, do you think money is a factor, or these photographers are only being weird? Share your thoughts when you open your account now on Ridesharingforum.com! Okay, ‘til then!