Back in September, a controversy broke out after several prominent poker photographers charged art company Poker Paint for using their photos with neither permission nor compensation.
Based out of Washington, DC, and run by poker player Brett Butz, Poker Paint commercially sells art pieces and NFTs by taking a photograph and slightly alters into multi-colored stylized versions. In the process, all copyright watermarks, oftentimes including the name of the photographer, are removed.
Hayley Hochstetler, who has taken photos for both Run Good Poker Series and PokerNews, was one of the first to speak out against Poker Paint’s practice.