We are aware of allegations that the forthcoming book The Grind by Steve Madden is a copy of another photography project and book. The allegations are unfounded, and the photographs are not copies.
The book’s author, Steve Madden is a Londoner who has always had a love of buses—so much so that he is the main owner of a Routemaster bus. In fact, he first conceived this project in 2005 when he photographed a woman on the 38 bus in Shaftesbury Avenue, framed by the bus-window. He was unaware when he started photographing his project of the series of photographs he is accused of copying.
Commuters on public transport have long held a fascination for photographers—from Walker Evans to Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Klein, Bruce Davidson, Bob Mazzer, Tom Wood and Michael Wolf to more recently Michael Heathcote, Lestor Jones, Sam Wright, George Georgiou, Jamie Hawkesworth to name just a few. The photography of such images are not unique. Further, there is no copyright in a concept or idea of this type, and since the photographs which are the subject of the claim are not copies there cannot be a claim for copyright infringement.