shutterstock_1112251688_jstone
16 September 2019CopyrightRory O'Neill

Gigi Hadid again sued over Instagram repost

Model Gigi Hadid is facing another copyright infringement lawsuit as a result of her activity on Instagram.

In January, WIPR  reported that Hadid had been sued for reposting an image of herself on the social media platform without the permission of the photographer.

That suit followed a similar complaint filed in 2017, in which freelance photographer Peter Cepeda alleged that Hadid had posted a photograph he took of her on Instagram without his permission.

The photograph at the heart of the latest suit is of Zayn Malik, former member of pop band One Direction.

In the complaint, filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday, September 13 freelance photographer Robert O’Neil said that he was the rightful owner of the copyright for the photo of Malik.

“Gigi Hadid is not, and has never been, licensed or otherwise authorised to reproduce, publicly display, distribute and/or use the photograph,” the complaint said.

O’Neil is seeking $150,000 in statutory damages, as well as attorneys’ fees.

The January 2019 complaint against Hadid in relation to the photo she reposted of herself was thrown out in July after it emerged that the plaintiff Xclusive-Lee had not registered the copyright for the photo with the US Copyright Office by the time the suit was filed.

That decision followed a ruling of the US Supreme Court in March this year in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v Wall-Street.com, which held that copyright infringement suits cannot be filed until after the Copyright Office has granted registration for the work at issue.

At the heart of Fourth Estate was a debate over when “registration” was deemed to have occurred under section 411 of title 17 of the US Code, which governs copyright infringement suits.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court rejected Fourth Estate’s “application approach”, which argued that “registration” occurred when the applicant filed for registration.

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Today's top stories:

‘Innovative patents’ a tool of big business: IP Australia

AIPPI World Congress 2019 opens in London

University of Minnesota petitions SCOTUS to review IPR immunity

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Copyright
29 January 2019   Gigi Hadid is at the centre of a copyright infringement suit for allegedly posting a copyright-protected photograph of herself to her Instagram account.
Copyright
9 October 2019   Entertainment company Splash News is suing singer Jennifer Lopez for $150,000 for posting a photo on Instagram.