Late this afternoon, photographer Jon Wolf issued a statement to some media sources regarding his copyright litigation regarding the portrait he took of Jan. 8 shooting victim Christina-Taylor Green:

About a half hour later, at 4:20 p.m., we received this statement from Jon Wolf:

“My actions regarding this matter have been misunderstood and sadly mischaracterized. My intent from the beginning always has been to use the proceeds from my creative work to make a charitable donation in Christina Green’s memory. I sought and received the Green family’s approval to do so. At no time did I intend to profit personally from this tragedy. As a result of the mischaracterizations in the news coverage and the resulting community outcry, and in the hope of saving the Green family from further association with this matter, I have chosen to halt filing legal action in the hopes of reaching negotiated settlements with those that have used this image. I will turn the proceeds collected to date over to a charity in Christina’s honor. I truly and deeply regret the additional distress this matter has placed on the Green family, and I apologize for that.” Jon Wolf

This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2011.

5 replies on “Jon Wolf Backs Off”

  1. I believe creative content is usually about money somewhere in the discussion. Money talks and baloney walks.

  2. He’s not really “Backing down”, he’s just trying to collect without litigation. Not only that, I’m sure he’ll have a nice tax write off!

  4. This fiasco sounds like a chapter from “How to Ruin Your Business.” Not nearly as effective as driving drunk and killing a family of four, nor as good as being found in a motel room with cocaine and two teens, but certainly worthy of chapter 8. Perhaps right after turning off the gas to several thousand influential customers in the foothills and then stonewalling for several days.

    I’m astonished at the lack of critical thinking that goes into some of these decisions.

  5. The sickest part of this is that Jon Wolf could have simply asked the media outlets to credit him the minute he recognized the photo as his. They do that all the time. He could have had the honor of seeing his name all over the world on a lovely photo of a beautiful little girl.

    Instead, he contacted a lawyer and worst of all sent someone over to the Greens’ house two days after their daughter was killed to get a signature.

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