Tamworth photographer wins £82,000 damages over porn DVD image

Oct 17 2010 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

A PORN boss sent abusive e-mails to a budding photographer before being forced to pay her £80,000 damages for illegally using her image on sex DVDs.

American Robert Burge’s company put an innocent holiday snap that a 14-year-old Lara Coton had taken of herself on the cover of a blue movie, called Body Magic.

The photo, which had been lifted from an art community website, also appeared on several adult websites.

Lara, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, was horrified after being first alerted to the porn links three years ago and was last week awarded £82,000 damages by a Florida court.

But legal papers show when she initially complained to Burge he fired back abusive e-mails – and claimed she was a ‘schemer’ who had cost him money in lost porn sales.

He wrote: “I’m sure by the end of the month your face will be history.

“We have further checked out your name and it’s not like it’s a household name. Actually removing your image will help improve the sell of the DVD. So far it has bombed.

“Not only will you not be compensated for your photo we have turned this problem over to our attorney. It seems the company my graphic company got the photo from on the internet is a public domain operation.