This should be seen as an image of public domain, i.e. the statue of liberty. The French are not suing Americans for that image, right?
Who does actually own the pic?
Can they sue this scuzzy “media group”?
Well, theoretically, if they’d copyrighted it in time, yes they could, if it were used commercially.
For example, the unique shape and profile of the Empire State building is copyrighted and can’t be used for commercial purposes. I have a friend who worked at a NYC radio station that used the outline of the shape of Empire in its logo and was successfully sued and had to change its logo as that image—the unique identifiable shape of the top of the building—was copyrighted by the building’s owners.