A Photographer’s Picture of My Sunflower Farm Went Viral. Then a Corporation Stole It, and We Took Them to Court Together

I drove to Minneapolis that weekend. Brooke showed me the bottles. My back, my sunflowers, my sunset, on a label with a cartoon sun.

Her copyright attorney explained the situation. Brooke owned the photo. The company had used it without a license. She had a strong case for copyright infringement.

But I had a case too.

My farm. My face, or at least my back. My land, used to sell a product without my permission.

“Together,” the attorney said, “you’re much stronger than either of you alone.”

It took fourteen months.

The company’s lawyers tried everything. They said the photo was in the public domain because it had gone viral. They said the farm wasn’t recognizable. They said Brooke had given up her rights when she posted it online.

At one deposition, their lawyer asked Brooke if she and I were “in a romantic relationship.”

She said, “No.”

Then she looked at me across the table for a second too long.

That night, in the hotel lobby, I asked her about it.

“You said no.”

“Under oath,” she said. “Because it’s true.”

“Is it?”

She looked away.

“Anders, you’re a farmer in North Dakota. I live in a van half the year. It’s never going to work.”