I am absolutely baffled as to how SyFy (that name will never cease being idiotic) managed to do this without somebody from legal taking a letter opener and going on a stabbing spree.
Even if the cosplayers, as photographic subjects, had some rights to the photos (which is unlikely unless they have some very specific paperwork to that effect), they wouldn’t have rights that ‘cancel out’ the photographer’s rights, SyFy would just have two parties to haggle with in order to secure permission.
Especially if those photos are registered with the copyright office(or within the three month window for doing so), I’d count myself lucky to get a demand for only $3.5k/each… Statutory damages, no need to even prove harm, are $150k, and proving harm might be eminently doable for a major national TV show…
