A Russian photographer was surprised to receive several bags of coins as compensation over unauthorized use of his works in a gym advertising campaign, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported on Thursday.
In early October a court in the South Russia city of Taganrog found a local fitness club guilty of copyright violation as it had used the works of photographer Valery Morozov in its advertising campaign without proper authorization. The court ordered the gym to pay the photographer 10 000 rubles (about $350) as compensation.
In late November, the gym managers offered the plaintiff to collect the money. The photographer was very surprised after he was paid the whole sum in metal coins — a total of 14500 coins of various denominations. The bookkeeper of the sports facility insisted that the plaintiff personally counted the money.
