Famous model Gigi Hadid is being sued for copyright infringement. Last week, Photographer Peter Cepeda filed a lawsuit against her because she posted his photo of her on Instagram without his permission. She allegedly ripped the photo from a news outlet, removed the credit byline, and posted the photo to her profile. By doing this, she violated the copyright law, so Cepeda and his agency INF decided to file a lawsuit.
As FStoppers reports, Cepeda snapped a photo last summer, when he noticed Hadid’s interesting jacket reading “Hadidas.” The photo was then sold to various publications around the world, but INF claims to be the sole owner of the copyright. Therefore, they’re suing Hadid for violating the copyright law, since she removed the credits. Cepeda stated that he licensed the photo to Daily Mail and TMZ, but not to the model herself. Reportedly, he’s reached her team several times, but his demands were rejected.
Hadid posted the photo in July 2016, and it’s still on her Instagram page, with over 1.2 million likes. According to the lawsuit, Hadid’s post caused that “numerous prominent, commercial, online publications copied and posted the copyrighted photograph, crediting Hadid or Instagram.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHxRY0rjUj5/
This case is similar to the one of Khloe Kardashian several months ago. She also ripped the photo of herself from Daily Mail, removed the copyright information, and posted it on Instagram. As a result, she was sued by the photo agency.
On the one hand, I’m not really a fan of paparazzi (to put it mildly). But on the other, they still have the right to protect their photos and own the rights to them, no matter who’s in the images. So, it’s not easy for me to pick sides here. What do you think?
[via FStoppers, Hello; cover image credits (right): The Door]
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