Can you be sued by posting a photo of yourself on social media?
You can if somebody else took the pic and holds the copyright to it, as Jessica Simpson found when she was slapped with a lawsuit by a photo agency who decided to sue the former “Newlyweds” star for posting one of its photos (of her) on Instagram and Twitter.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, photo agency Splash News had granted exclusive rights to the Daily Mail to publish paparazzi photos online of Simpson exiting the New York’s Bowery Hotel — which Simpson then shared on her various social media accounts.
In its suit, however, Splash News is contending the company never granted permission for Simpson, 37, to use the photos, and by posting them online she violated Splash News’ copyright.
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Also named in the lawsuit is the website Reality TV World, which picked up the photo from her Instagram post and ran it online.
“Simpson or someone acting on her behalf copied the Photograph and distributed it on Instagram — within hours of its original publication on August 9, 2017,” writes attorney Peter Perkowski in the complaint. “The copy of the Photograph that Simpson distributed on Instagram had been altered, without authorization or approval, to remove the CMI showing plaintiff as the copyright owner of the image.”
Splash News contends that Simpson sharing the photo on social media took away potential revenue that could have been generated by licensing the photo to other media outlets.
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“Simpson’s Instagram post and Twitter tweet made the Photograph immediately available to her nearly 11.5 million followers and others, consumers of entertainment news — and especially news and images of Simpson herself, as evidenced by their status as followers of her — who would otherwise be interested in viewing licensed versions of the Photograph in the magazines and newspapers that are plaintiff’s customers,” the suit adds.
You can read the legal document in its entirety below:
FnkyTown on January 25th, 2018 at 13:33 UTC »
My niece (8 years old) got photographed at school for picture day. They made all the kids get their picture taken even if the parents weren't buying the packets (which her's didn't - because they do like 3 school photos a year and it gets annoying), and apparently the company liked her pic so much they used her as the example pic in all their literature. So the next 'picture day' season arrived and the school (and most of the schools in the rather large county) were plastered with her image on posters, pamphlets that went home, the official website and it was absolutely bizarro for her family. Unfortunately for the picture company, both of her parents are lawyers. - The issue was resolved with the removal of all the advertisements and overall campaign. - She's not normally extra photogenic, but it was just a great picture.
dragonblade629 on January 25th, 2018 at 12:46 UTC »
We just gonna forget that she had a pretty huge music career in the early 2000s?
DeathcampEnthusiast on January 25th, 2018 at 11:23 UTC »
"Hey, you can't post that! I took that from the tree across your house with a telephoto lens!"