LONDON – British singer Dua Lipa is being sued after allegedly posting a paparazzi photo of herself on Instagram.
The 25-year-old star was snapped queuing at an airport in February 2019 and shared the shot four days later with her fans “without permission or authorisation”, according to United States court documents.
The photo, which was posted on Feb 7, 2019 but subsequently deleted, showed the star standing in line, clutching her airline ticket and passport, while wearing an oversized hat.
In the caption, she had written: “I’ll be living under big fluffy hats until further notice.”
Integral Images, which owns the copyright, claimed Lipa profited from the photo, as her Instagram feed acts as a marketing tool for her music.
It is seeking US$150,000 (S$203,000) in damages and is also asking for an order preventing the singer from further acts of infringement, as well as legal costs.
Lipa, who recently won best pop album at the Grammys and best album at the Brit Awards for Future Nostalgia, is not the first star to have the tables turned on her by the paparazzi.
Under copyright laws, the photographer who pushes the button on the camera usually holds the copyright to the photo and reposting it is an infringement unless permission is granted.
In 2019, singer Jennifer Lopez was sued by Splashy News and Picture Agency for posting a photo of herself and former baseball player Alex Rodriguez, her partner at the time, but the agency later voluntarily dismissed the complaint with prejudice.
Model Gigi Hadid, actor Liam Hemsworth and reality television star Khloe Kardashian have also been sued in similar cases, while singers Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber both settled with photographer Robert Barbera in 2019.
