Muhammad Ali’s personal photographer is suing an agency for allegedly using his iconic photos of the late boxer after his contract expired.
Ali’s personal photographer Michael Gaffney has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against American management company Authentic Brands Group (ABG) which partners with other companies to license and merchandise.
Gaffney — who was employed by Ali in 1977 and 1978 to travel with him and take pictures — alleges that ABG used his rare collection of images of the boxing legend after the photographer’s contract with the company expired.
According to a press release, Gaffney claims that his photographs of Ali were included on ABG’s commercial media accounts, where they advertised to millions of people.
In the lawsuit, the photographer alleges that ABG profited from the Ali photographs by distributing them to other companies, such as TAG Heuer, for their advertising campaigns, without authorization from Gaffney.
Gaffney also claims that one of his images was selected by ABG as the official obituary photograph of Ali and that the brand management company’s social media was directly linked to websites where the boxer’s merchandise was sold.
Gaffney’s copyright infringement lawsuit against ABG is reportedly headed to trial this week, according to the press release.
Gaffney is an award-winning photographer based in New Jersey. He was Ali’s personal photographer for a year — taking 8,000 images of the boxing legend, covering three of Ali’s fights, and traveling with him and his family around the world.
In 2012, Gaffney published a book The Champ-My Year With Muhammad Ali that documented in photographs and stories his experience.
Gaffney was working as a chief photographer on a New Jersey newspaper when he met Ali while shooting the boxer at a training camp in preparation in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania for his fight against Earnie Shavers.
The boxer already had a personal photographer in his friend of many years Howard Bingham. But Bingham was running for Congress in Los Angeles and leaving the training camp behind.
In a 2016 feature with Buzzfeed, Gaffney recalled how the heavyweight champion of the world then offered the job of his photographer to Gaffney.
“When I went into his office to tell him I was leaving the next day, he [Ali] said, ‘Mike, you can’t leave, I need you to be my personal photographer,’” Gaffney said.
