Nussenzweig v. diCorcia is a decision by the New York Supreme Court in New York County, holding that a photographer could display, publish, and sell street photography without the consent of the subjects of those photographs.[1]
Erno Nussenzweig (born 1922) is a retired diamond merchant from Union City, New Jersey. Nussenzweig was represented in this lawsuit by attorney Jay Goldberg.[2][1]
Philip-Lorca diCorcia (born 1951) is an artist and photographer who shows with the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City. DiCorcia was represented in this lawsuit by Lawrence Barth of the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in Los Angeles, California.[2][1]
The photograph was taken by diCorcia in Times Square in Manhattan. The images were exhibited at Pace/MacGill Gallery from September 6, 2001 to October 13, 2001. Pace/MacGill then published them in a book of diCorcia's work titled Heads.[3] DiCorcia created ten limited edition prints of each photograph in the book and they were sold for US$20,000 to US$30,000 each.[2]
In 2005, Nussenzweig learned of the photograph and filed a lawsuit, claiming that diCorcia and Pace/MacGill had violated his privacy rights under Sections 50 and 51 of New York's Civil Rights Law and that, as a Klausenburg Orthodox Jew, such a display would violate the Commandment in Torah against graven images. New York law prohibits the use of a person's likeness, without consent, "for advertising or for purposes of trade." DiCorcia and Pace/MacGill argued that the photograph represented "artistic expression", and was protected under the 1st Amendment and that the statute of limitations had expired for bringing a lawsuit. On February 8, 2006 the court ruled in favor of diCorcia and Pace/MacGill Gallery and dismissed the lawsuit on both counts. In March 2007[4] the decision was upheld by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. In November 2007[5] the New York Court of Appeals upheld all previous decisions based on the statute of limitations and "artistic expression".[1]