Photo Series: Patterns

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Photography Versus the Law

Photography Versus the Law

         Many people would recognize the Nike Air Jordan symbol Jumpman that is identified as Michael Jordan dunking a basketball. What many people don’t know is the history behind this infamous symbol. Jacobus Rentmeester is the photographer who arranged and photographed Michael Jordan but it wasn’t for Nike.

         Jacobus Rentmeester photographed Jordan for an issue in Life Magazine during the 1984 Olympics. The photo Rentmeester chose for the magazine was an action shot of Jordan dunking. Jordan is in the air with the ball in his left hand and his legs in the placement of a split. Nike stole this image from Rentmeester’s page in Life Magazine for advertisement purposes of Nike’s Air Jordan shoes. Rentmeester took the Nike company to court and sued over Nike’s actions, Nike admitted to stealing his photo of Michael Jordan and asked Rentmeester’s permission to use his photo for two years for advertisements, in return he was paid 150 dollars.

          After the court case, Rentmeester filed his slides of Jordan with the Copyright and Trademark registration. He recently found out that Nike has still been using his slides for more than just advertisement purposes; they turned it into the actual label for their Air Jordan shoes.

         Michael Jordan was asked about these photos and the symbol in an interview. Jordan explains how he was told by Rentmeester to pretend to dunk with his left hand to show his whole body in motion. He was also told to form a grand jete, a ballet move where you perform the splits in the air. Jordan stated that he “doesn’t even dunk with his left hand”, he dunks with his right hand.

        Rentmeester is currently suing Nike over using his photos for the Air Jordan symbol and is asking for 3.2 million dollars in return for copyright infringement. There has not been an announced settlement at this time. Nike did admit to stealing his slides and will hopefully pay Rentmeester for their damages; they might even try to buy his copyright since the Jumpman is such an iconic symbol by now. Rentmeester should receive compensation for the usages of his slides since Nike agreed to only use his images for two years and agreed to only use them for advertisements.