IHSA countersues over photographs
The serve-and-volley legal battle over newspapers' use of photographs taken at high school athletic events continued Wednesday, as the Illinois High School Association countersued the Illinois Press Association and three individual newspapers.
The Springfield-based IPA, representing more than 600 member newspapers, sued the IHSA in November over its policy prohibiting newspapers from selling photos taken by their staff photographers.
The IHSA says that such sales infringe on its contract with Visual Image Photography Inc., whose licensing agreement with the association permits it to sell photos from state championship games in return for giving the IHSA photos from these contests for promotional use. IHSA officials say they sought the contract because shooting its own photos was costing the association tens of thousands of dollars.
Wednesday's countersuit by the IHSA asks the courts to intervene with newspapers that continue to offer photos from IHSA events for sale online. Without the court's intervention, the IHSA claims, its ability to enter licensing agreements such as its deal with VIP will be irreparably harmed.
In addition to targeting the press association, the IHSA's suit names three individual newspapers: the Crystal-Lake based Northwest Herald (although the suit states that the Northwest Herald has offices in Arlington Heights, which is not the case), the Springfield State Journal-Register and the Peoria Journal Star.
IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman said a fourth individual newspaper might be named later. He said the IHSA singled out these newspapers because the association had already mailed them cease-and-desist letters.
Don Craven, an attorney for the press association, said Wednesday the IHSA's latest move does nothing to alter news organizations' view that the high school association is exceeding its legal authority.
"We filed a suit saying the IHSA doesn't have the authority to enter into an exclusive commercial relationship with VIP to sell photos. They've filed this suit saying, yes they do," Craven said.
He said the press association will continue its line of argument, which is that the IHSA policy interferes with newspapers' ability to cover events. The issue, he said, is not one of commercial gain for newspapers from occasional photo sales.
"We don't see ourselves as commercial users of photographs," Craven said. "Do we sell some photos? Yes. Are we in the business of selling photographs? No."
The dispute came to a practical head the weekend after Thanksgiving, when the IHSA denied photographers from a number of newspapers, including the Daily Herald, field access to the eight championship football games.