Judge Says Nike Didn’t Rip Off Photographer’s Michael Jordan “Jumpman” Photo

The Jumpman is in fact Nike’s rightful property, according to a federal judge who has dismissed Jacobus Rentmeester’s lawsuit against Nike, claiming copyright infringment over the photo the New York photographer says inspired the iconic Jumpman logo. As reported by Allan Brettman of The Oregonian, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman included in the case’s decision that Rentmeester “failed to show that he can satisfy the requisite objective test for copyright infringement.” Nike paid Rentmeester $15,000 in 1985 to license the photo for limited use, and later created an image with Jordan that Rentmeester claimed in his January 2015 filing unlawfully replicated his photo.