It seems like celebrities just can’t quite grasp the concept of copyright.
Dua Lipa finds herself in the legal crosshairs once again for allegedly sharing a copyrighted photo of herself by NY photographer Robert Barbera without permission, Billboard reports.
Far from the only celebrity to do such a thing, the case is unique in that we typically don’t see lightning strike twice in these scenarios as most celebrities and their PR teams tend to internalize the lesson and move on (take Kim Kardashian’s hiring of her own paparazzi as exhibit number one in this).
This case as with the first instance involves posting a picture to Instagram which helped buoy the attorney's argument that Dua Lipa somehow benefitted or profited off of the use of the images in question.
And as is typical in these kinds of cases, the photographer apparently attempted to settle it out of court but was unsuccessful in doing so. Billboard further reports that this isn’t the photographer’s first rodeo, having sued Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande for similar copyright violations in the past.
In other celebrity copyright news, Lisa Rinna, who is notable for claiming the photographers were “weaponizing” copyright laws, just settled for $1.2 million with a photo agency for using their pics without permission. Not only is that a slice of humble pie, but a pretty expensive one at that. While we tend to cover more successful cases of copyright infringement, not all of them go the creator’s way and we’ve also brought word of more than a few of those. The lesson for us all here is that we need to remain vigilant about protecting our rights as well as what post on social media and beyond.
Of course, any thoughts you might have on Dua Lipa’s copyright infringement, be sure to let us know them in the comments below.
Check out some of our other photography news on Light Stalking at this link right here.
