Souza, 67, took the photo on Air Force One in 2009 on Obama’s first trip abroad as president and included it in a photo gallery on his website after he left the White House in 2017. In an Instagram post on Saturday, Mr Souza said he had been notified by a copyright enforcement agency that WENN Rights International had infringed ownership of the image. Mr Souza added that the photo had been placed in an official gallery of Mr Obama’s first 100 days in office and that there was “no copyright on official White House photographs”. “You can’t do this mess,” Mr. Souza wrote. Mr Souza said he was told he was “legally obliged to compensate (WENN) for the damage caused by this copyright infringement”. “So to recap: I took this photo. It is in the public domain. WENN licenses this image for publication. Copytrack is threatening to take legal action against me for displaying this photo on my website as their partner WENN claims they own the copyright to the image.” Former White House photographer Pete Souza says he’s facing legal action over one of his photos (Pete Souza/Instagram) One of the images of Mr. Souza taken during Barack Obama’s presidency (Pete Souza/The White House) Obama and National Security Team Monitor Raid That Killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011 (Pete Souza/The White House) WENN did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Commenting on the post on Instagram, photographer Danny Clinch wrote: “I always come across the use of my copyright images in a situation where they benefit financially. It’s lame.” Mr. Souza served as the official photographer during Mr. Obama’s two terms and under Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1989. He was given virtually unlimited access to the 44th president at the White House, during official events and on foreign tours. Mr. Souza took many of the most famous images of Mr. Obama’s presidency, including the situation room during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and a young boy rubbing the president’s head. Representatives for Mr. Souza did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.
