A federal district court judge in New York recently ruled that a trust for the heirs of the renowned photographer Bert Stern are the rightful owners of the copyright interests in his famed "Last Sitting" photographs of Marilyn Monroe. The 2,571 photographs were taken by Bert in June 1962, just weeks before Marilyn’s death and are considered some of the most important celebrity images of the 20th century.
Bert’s widow, Shannah Laumeister Stern, acting as trustee for the trust, filed suit against Lisa and Lynette Lavender, twin sisters who were Bert’s assistants, claiming copyright infringement involving the reproduction and online sale of prints and of modified versions of certain Marilyn images.
In their defense, the Lavenders claimed that the copyrights belonged to Conde Nast, which had published a few of the photographs in Vogue and with which Bert had an active and productive business relationship. According to the New York Post, in a separate court filing by the twins in Surrogate’s Court, they claimed that Shannah cut them out of a $50,000 bequest from Bert. It was also reported that they claimed that Bert authorized them to make, modify and sell copies of the Marilyn photographs following his death.