MediaTakeOut has
just learned the naked truth about the lengths Playboy will go to protect its
photos.
The popular urban
news website has been slapped with a lawsuit by Playboy Enterprises for
allegedly publishing Playboy's nude photos of controversial rapper Azealia
Banks.
The suit, filed
in federal court in New York on Tuesday, states that Playboy was the exclusive
licensee of the photos, which according to the complaint, MediaTakeOut
published in March.
To add insult to
injury, the lawsuit claims that MediaTakeOut slapped its own watermark on the
images, even though Playboy had obtained a registration for the images from the
U.S. Copyright Office.
"Upon information
and belief, defendant knowingly altered and/or falsified copyright management
information to conceal defendant's infringement of plaintiff's registered and
unregistered copyright works.
Banks appeared in
the April 2015 issue of Playboy.
Alleging
copyright infringement and violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,
the suit is asking for a declaration that Media Takeout infringed on the works.
Playboy also wants damages of "up to $150,000 for each copyright
infringement" and up to $25,000 for each violation of the DMCA.