2 Women Sue Surflink, AOL Over Posted Bikini Pictures

Two Orange County women sued Surflink, a computerized surf report, and America Online for $1 million Wednesday for allegedly posting pictures of them in bikinis without their permission.

The women, Lyndee Ichikawa and Melinda Sykes, charge that in November 1995 the Huntington Beach online surf report placed pictures of them on its service where the images could be “downloaded” by anyone. The experience, the suit said, ruined the women’s ability to carry on “their livelihood as photographic models.”

Surflink’s attorney, Tucker Cheadle, said the women asked a photographer to take pictures of them explicitly to be posted on Surflink about nine months ago. The photographer told Surflink officials, who were friends of the women, that Sykes and Ichikawa had signed written consent forms, he said.

Less than two weeks after the pictures were posted, an attorney hired by the women demanded royalties, Cheadle said. Surflink removed the photos, and Cheadle told the attorney that if Surflink “gave them 100% of the gross receipts, we’d probably owe them about $15.”

Neither the women nor their attorney could be reached for comment.

Cheadle said Surflink posts pictures of men and women on its surf reports every week and that no one has ever asked for money.

“They generally do it to gain notoriety or as a hobby,” he said.