
The top photo has Tara Mapes’ copyright watermark on it. The bottom photograph, while nearly identical, has Angelic Ice Photography Branding instead of Tara Mapes’ watermark.
A new lawsuit has been filed by photographer and digital artist Tara Mapes, who claims her copyrighted work has been repeatedly copied and distributed without permission through Facebook groups. Mapes, who lives in Guilford, Indiana, alleges that her original images and design templates were taken, altered, and sold by individuals and businesses online, with some groups having memberships in the hundreds of thousands.
The complaint names as defendants several unidentified individuals who manage the Facebook groups, a South African business called Angelic Ice Photography and its owner Tanisha Lloyd, and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook. Mapes asserts that Angelic Ice, for example, removed her watermarks, replaced them with its own branding, and used her creations to advertise its services to tens of thousands of followers.