A lawyer who said his photograph of the Indianapolis skyline was illegally used countless times — a claim that netted him at least $300,000 in copyright infringement judgments — does not actually own the photo, an Indianapolis federal jury determined this week.

The discovery could stop Richard Bell, who has filed more than a dozen such lawsuits in 2019 alone, from taking any more legal action against people or entities for copyright infringement over the photo, according to intellectual-property attorney Paul Overhauser.

"It would seem impossible for him to bring any additional lawsuits in good faith," he told IndyStar.

In a unanimous verdict reached Tuesday, U.S. District Court jurors found that Bell failed to prove that he took the photo and that he owns a copyright on it, according to court documents.

The verdict concludes a 2016 lawsuit in which Bell sued Carmen Commercial Real Estate Services, an Indianapolis-based real estate agency, over the allegedly unlawful use of the photo on its website.

Bell, who lives in McCordsville, claimed to have taken the photo in 2000 and registered it with the U.S. Copyright office the following year. The jury, though, found no evidence that the photo was registered.

IndyStar has reached out to Bell for comment.

Bells' credibility questioned

The verdict could result in more losses for Bell in several other pending lawsuits he filed over the photo, according to Overhauser, Carmen's attorney.

“The jury determined Bell did not own the photo, which now means all of the defendants he has sued across the country should be able to use this jury finding to get their cases decided in their favor," Overhauser said in a news release. "And because a prevailing defendant in a copyright suit can usually recover its attorney's fees, Bell could be ordered to pay the attorney fees for all of those defendants.”

The skyline photo shows a fountain operating in the Indianapolis Canal. Overhauser says he foiled Bell's claim of ownership by introducing an affidavit from the City of Indianapolis that proves that the city didn't turn on the fountain until April 2000, a month after Bell says he took the photo.

A copy of the affidavit provided to IndyStar shows that Mark Peterson, the general manager of the Indianapolis-Marion County Building Authority, confirmed that the fountain is not turned on until April 1 of each year.

Bell said he took the photo on March 8, 2000, from West St. Clair Street. He said he then returned that night for another photo from the site, which he said has also been used without permission.

But Overhauser said the daytime photo shows trees with leaves. In the evening photo, the trees are bare, even though the photos are supposed to have been taken hours apart.

"It really cast doubt on Bells' credibility," Overhauser told IndyStar.

Overhauser said this the first time it's been proven that Bell doesn't own the photo.

"That turned out to be one of the big turning points in this case," he said.

This revelation comes after at least 90 infringement cases brought against a number of entities in the past eight years, court records show — including two judgments of $150,000 apiece in Bell's favor. His dispute with Carmen began with an attempt to collect $5,000 to settle his copyright infringement claim, according to Overhauser. Carmen apologized, the news release said, and offered to pay $1,000. Bell reportedly refused and later filed a federal complaint.

“When he started going after people in 2011, he was demanding $200,” said Marc Orr, who served as the jury foreman, per the news release. “By the time he sued Carmen Commercial in 2016, he had upped his demand to $5,000. Then in 2018, his demands went up to $10,000.”

It's unlikely, Overhauser said, that Bell will try to challenge the verdict in this case because any evidence he has to prove ownership would have been introduced in court.

"Bell (provided) all the evidence he had at his disposal to try to prove that he owns the picture," Overhauser said. "The jury concluded that that wasn't enough. So he really doesn't have any grounds to appeal."

IndyStar spoke with Bell about his many copyright lawsuits last year. Few fields have been spared litigation over the photo. Bell has sued multiple universities, real estate firms, healthcare companies — including Eli Lilly — and trade associations. A handful of the lawsuits are still open, court records show.

“This is a scary example of what can happen when pulling images and content off the web,” Overhauser said.

Mark Alesia contributed to this report.

Contact IndyStar reporter Crystal Hill at 317-444-6094 or cnhill@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @crysnhill.