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Ets Hokin v Skyy Spirits. This case went in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals twice. These opinions do not directly address "stock photos" being used by companies but the first ruling is close to the subject. Emphasis added.

ETS-HOKIN v. SKYY SPIRITS INC., 225 F.3d 1068 (9th Cir. 2000). "[1] This case requires us to apply copyright principles to stylized photographs of a vodka bottle. Specifically, we must decide whether professional photographer Joshua Ets-Hokin's commercial photographs, dubbed "product shots, " of the Skyy Spirits vodka bottle merit copyright protection. Given the Copyright Act's low threshold for originality generally and the minimal amount of originality required to qualify a photograph in particular, we conclude that Ets-Hokin's photographs are entitled to copyright protection. [2] We also conclude that the district court erred in analyzing this case through the lens of derivative copyright. The photographs at issue cannot be derivative works because the vodka bottle--the alleged underlying work--is not itself subject to copyright protection. Accordingly, we reverse the grant of summary judgment for Skyy Spirits and remand for consider­ation of whether infringement has occurred." ETS-HOKIN v. SKYY SPIRITS INC., 323 F.3d 763 (9th Cir. 2003) "[1] This long-running litigation is fundamentally about how many ways one can create an advertising photograph, called a "product shot," of a blue vodka bottle. We conclude there are not very many. We therefore affirm the district court's summary judgment because the allegedly infringing photographs are not "virtually identical" as required upon application of the defensive doctrines of merger and scenes a faire. We agree fully with the district court that such defenses were appropriately invoked. [2] Indeed, we held as much when this case was previously before this court. See Ets-Hokin v. Skyy Spirits, Inc., 225 F.3d 1068 (9th Cir. 2000)."