Photographer Annie Liebovitz reached a last-minute deal with a lender that she owed $24 million, allowing her to stave off a forfeiture of her copyrights and film negatives -- at least for the time being.

Liebovitz shot some of the most famous pop culture photographs of the 20th century, including the Rolling Stone cover photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono hours before Lennon was killed.  Liebovitz had taken out the loan from Art Capital Group to finance various aspects of her business.  She put up the copyrights in her entire portfolio and her two homes as collateral.  Liebovitz was set to default on the loan on September 8.  She and the lender, however, negotiated for several days after the due date.

The parties issued a joint press release that stated that Liebovitz had "purchased from Art Capital its rights to act as exclusive agent in the sale of her real property and copyrights” and that she will “therefore retain control of those assets within the context of the loan agreement.”  The New York Times, however, reports that the copyrights still remain as collateral.

While it appears that Liebovitz has lived to fight another day, as commentators in the Times piece note, all she might have gained was more time to pay off the debt.