Hovey Must Relinquish Rights To Bigfoot Photo

hovey1

  • Is the Mellissa Hovey photo really a shot from Karl Kozak’s,”Clawed”?
  • Forced to drop the copyright and spend thousands on court costs, why is Hovey still defiant?
  • Could it be that she’s actually telling the truth?

While I’ve never been convinced either way in the Bigfoot debate, I was impressed when the Melissa Hovey photo came out. It looked extremely authentic and I got in on the ground floor. In fact, it was our story (see “Associated Content”) that sent the photo into the viral tantrum it enjoyed.

Since that time, the Hovey photo has been under intense scrutiny with several individuals calling for Melissa to remove her copyright. This morning (08/07/13), it was reported by The Bigfootery Enquirer that Ms. Hovey is being forced to abandon her copyright claim.

Hovey v Poling Dismissed With Prejudice – Copyright, no, Copywrong

August 7, 2013 by thebigfooteryenquirer

With prejudice is important. It indicates misconduct upon the part of the claimant and forbids her from filing another claim.

A settlement agreement was brokered by the magistrate; we imagine both parties got a piece of his mind, but especially the moving party.

Stipulations include:

1. Both parties responsible for their own cost and attorney fees.
2. Removal of and cease further disparaging or defaming remarks towards each other.
3. Hovey must file within 20 days, at her own expense, a disclaimer and forfeiture of her registration of her claim to copyright in the “Photograph”.

We suspect this did not work out quite as she hoped, out filing fees, attorney fees and loss of her copyright claim instead of $75k or more.

To read opinions associated with this TBE story, take a look here….

One guy who’s been pushing Hovey to remove her claim is Director Karl Kozak who says Hovey has nothing more than a snapshot from his film, “Clawed”.

Here’s what Karl had to say:

Hi Scott –

As I’ve stated from the beginning, the photo of bigfoot claimed by Ms.
Hovey (taken at night from the rear) was snapped by a crew member on the
set of our movie in North Bend, Washington.

To prove that further, here’s a daytime photo that I came across in my
folder (and sent to Ms Hovey) that depicts our bigfoot actor with
the same rear view angle. If you look at the contour and shape of the
outfit – you can see it’s the same as the other pic. The lighting is
obviously different (night vs day) and that changes the coloring. Also, it
was damp when the night shot was taken, so the hair has a different look
and reflects the photoflash, but I think you can see — it’s our “Bigfoot”.

Below we see the photo Karl is referencing:

Kovak Bigfoot

As Much as I’d like to agree with Karl, I am just not convinced. Below we see the Hovey photo manipulated to show the same size and view as Karl’s picture. Take a look:

hovey3

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t see a match here. The hair is similar, but Hovey’s shows gaps, in fact several gaps, where Karl’s doesn’t seem to show any. Furthermore, even at night, such light colored hair wouldn’t appear as dark as Hovey’s example, not to mention the gray streaks are not evident on Karl’s side.

So, lets go a step further. Again, I’ve manipulated the pictures, but this time I overlapped them and faded Karl’s Bigfoot out enough to show that the shoulder width’s are different between the two. Furthermore, Karl’s Bigfoot shows to be more slight of build. Tell me what you think:

hovey2

Just to make sure you can follow the Hovey Bigfoot outline, I added the red marker. Again, if forced to make a decision based on the variables, such as time of day, position, lighting, manipulation of a “costume”, etc…I still have to balk at Karl’s claim.

Way back when the Hovey photo was all the rage, I spent quite a few hours watching Karl’s film, “Clawed”. I have to say, I was entertained and do recommend it for anyone’s Bigfoot movie marathon. However, after viewing frame by frame shots, when the Bigfoot was on screen, I just couldn’t find any evidence to support Karl.

Clawed Trailer:

When I spoke to Karl, I felt that his photo was going to prove without a doubt that the Hovey Bigfoot was in fact, his Bigfoot. In my mind, Karl was going to provide the view I had missed in the film. In fact, I related to him that I wanted to set the record straight with our readers. My apologies Karl, I sincerely appreciate your input, but I can’t deny what I’m seeing.

Maybe Karl can dig up some other photos to refute my analysis? Until then, to me the Melissa Hovey photo stands as a continuing mystery.

Thanks to Karl Kozak for his contribution to this article. You can download his film, Clawed from Netflix, Amazon and many other outlets.
I’d also like to thank The Bigfootery Enquirer for content provided.

Associated Content:

GT: Breaking News: Is This The Best Photo Of Bigfoot Ever?
GT: Bigfoot Foot?
GT: Leaked Stills Of Bigfoot Matilda?

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