Fashion model GiGi Hadid is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit for allegedly posting a picture of herself on Instagram that belonged to a photographer. In July previous year, a post by a model wearing an Adidas jacket was received 1.2 million likes on Instagram.
Willful Infringement
Filed at US District Court for Eastern District Virginia recently, freelance photographer Peter Cepeda sued both GiGi and her agency IMG worldwide for “willful and intentional infringement”. He accused the defendant of then”copying and uploading the copyrighted photograph to Hadid’s Instagram account. Cepeda added further that he had received a receipt for his copyright registration application for the photograph for U.S Copyright Office.
The photographer is seeking an injunction against both Hadid and her agency, a transfer of profit, actual and statutory damages and a jury trial. Disputes between photographers and celebrities using their work on social media have resulted in a number of copyright infringement lawsuits.
US President Donald Trump has been sued twice for copyright infringement relating to the use of the photograph on social media. In June, a photo which trumps online of four women wearing t-shirts spelling out ‘Trumps America Great again’ election slogan ended up at the centre of copyright infringement case.
Conclusion
Julie Dermansky, the individual who took the photo, was seeking a 150,000$ in damages. Trump was also sued in October 2016 over a picture of a bowl of skittles, originally posted by trump jr.
Trump Jr. had tweeted the image which said that if I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful? That’s our Syrian refugee problem.” That case was voluntarily dismissed by the photographer in November 2016.
