Dislike! Man Sues 'GMA' 'TODAY' & Yahoo Over Facebook Livestream Of His Child's Birth
Sept. 28 2016, Published 10:18 a.m. ET
A man who live-streamed his partner giving birth on Facebook is furious with Good Morning America & The TODAY Show for publishing his video without paying him a dime, and now he has slapped the networks behind the shows with a Federal Lawsuit demanding $150,000 plus damages RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.
Kali Kanongatta filed the suit against American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), National Broadcasting Companies (NBC) and Yahoo Inc. over the video of his partner giving birth that went viral.
In the documents, he wrote that on May 16, 2016, he videotaped his partner giving birth and broadcast it on his Facebook page. The man claims he is the sole owner of all right, title and interest in the video he broadcast.
Despite him owning the rights to the video, he says Good Morning America publicly displayed the video on May 17, when they ran an article on their website entitled "Man Uses Facebook to Live Stream Wife Giving Birth" which included his video
"ABC did not license the Video from Plaintiff for use during GMA nor did ABC license the Video from Plaintiff for its GMA Website article, nor did ABC have Plaintiff's permission or consent to publish the Video on the GMA Website and on GMA," the lawsuit documents obtained by RadarOnline.com state.
The TODAY show ran the video on their website the same day as GMA and Yahoo picked up the viral video and posted it on their site without permission.
Kanongatta's lawsuit states, "Plaintiff's copyright and exclusive rights under copyright, Plaintiff is entitled to damages and Defendants profits pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 504(b) for the infringement. Alternatively, Plaintiff is entitled to statutory damages up to $150,000 per work infringed for Defendants willful infringement of the Video, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)."
He asked for an injunction against the outlets from ever publishing or using his video without his approval. He is also seeking accounting for all profits the networks and websites made from publishing his content.
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