Mats for bear falling from Will Vill tree provided by CU Rec Center twitter.com/cuindependent/… — CU Independent (@cuindependent) April 26, 2012

A University of Colorado Boulder student took a picture for his school paper on Thursday. Within hours, the photo was famous.

One day later, the student is planning to sue the paper.

The picture, taken by Andy Duann, was published as part of a story about how a bear wandered onto campus and was tranquilized in order to remove it from a tree.

Gil Asakawa, who advises the Independent, the publication Duann works for, told Denver Westword the photo had received more than 10,000 page views by 5 p.m. Mountain Time Thursday — and “eventually crashed the Independent’s site.”

According to Poynter, the rights to the viral photo have been purchased by the Denver Post, The Colorodo Daily, and Poynter. However, Duann isn't thrilled about how the Independent is handling the exposure. “They did not pay me even a penny," he said.

“I worked my ass off for CU Independent and in return I get nothing.”

Duann adds that a professor who specializes in copyright law told him “that I definitely own the copyright,” he told Poynter in an email. "We are going to write a letter to inform them not to use the photo any more, and we will take further action to collect the money from them."

Besides the press the photo has received, it has — naturally — been meme-ified. The photo has been combined with another recent CU meme, the “totally psyched dive bar girl.” There is also an animated GIF, and a Facebook album of photos.

How should photographers be compensated when their pictures go viral? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.