Sony Music Publishing Faces $150K Lawsuit Over Stevie Wonder Photo

Sony Music Publishing is facing a $150,000 copyright infringement lawsuit from photographer Alan Satterwhite, who alleges that the company used his photograph of Stevie Wonder in an Instagram post without obtaining permission or paying a licensing fee.

Satterwhite filed the complaint Sunday, November 8, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The dispute concerns a photograph taken in 1974 showing Wonder seated at a piano, which appeared in a 2023 Instagram post celebrating the 50th anniversary of his album Innervisions.

According to the lawsuit, Sony Music Publishing reproduced and publicly displayed the image without securing a license from Satterwhite, who claims to own the copyright. The photograph was part of a series he captured during a session with Wonder, and Satterwhite subsequently registered the work with the U.S. Copyright Office.

The photographer alleges that Sony's unauthorized use deprived him of the opportunity to license the image and undermined the market for his work. His complaint argues that the company benefited from displaying the photograph to its social media audience without compensating its creator.

Satterwhite is seeking up to $150,000 in statutory damages, the maximum available under federal copyright law for willful infringement of a single copyrighted work. He maintains that Sony knew or should have known a license was required, particularly given its experience managing intellectual property rights in the music industry.

The complaint also seeks an injunction against further unauthorized use of the photograph, along with attorney fees and other relief available under copyright law. A judge would have to determine whether infringement occurred and whether the evidence supports an award for willful conduct.

Satterwhite has previously pursued copyright claims over unauthorized uses of his celebrity photographs, including another image of Wonder that became the subject of a lawsuit against Berklee College of Music in 2025. That case was voluntarily dismissed shortly after it was filed.

Sony Music Publishing, which manages publishing rights for songs and compositions, has not publicly addressed the allegations. Stevie Wonder is the subject of the photograph and is not named as a party to the lawsuit.

The case remains before the federal court in Manhattan, where Satterwhite is seeking compensation for the alleged use of his copyrighted image.