Is it stealing or inspiration? Another pop star copies another photo

Pop singer Sabrina Carpenter has drawn criticism over her recent album cover photo because it heavily resembles another photograph. The 25-year-old singer shared her Short n’ Sweet album art on Instagram last week. The image shows Carpenter looking at the camera over her shoulder with a lipstick kiss visible on her shoulder blade against a blue background.

Several people recalled how similar it was to a French magazine shoot from years past. This image, too, has a blonde woman looking over her shoulder with a clearly visible lipstick kiss on her left shoulder blade against a blue background. The original image was of French model Tiffany Collier and was taken by photographer Bruno Juminer.

the short n’ sweet era’s vintage inspired aesthetic – a thread 🧵💋 pic.twitter.com/0l8iqpKtd8

— ave 🪐 (@honeymoonavfade) June 4, 2024

People commented that the singer’s version is inferior to the original, missing all of the allure and je ne sais quoi. There’s clearly no grain in the copy, and the singer is looking straight down the lens, not squinting into the bright sunshine. The background, too, looks fake and sterile.

Still, it’s technically not breaking copyright rules. Or is it? When is it a straight-up copy, and when is it merely inspiration? Several people have landed themselves in hot water for copying photographs and concepts. These have then ended up in lengthy court cases and cost a lot of time and money.

One landmark case as such was the Warhol versus Goldsmith case. The Warhol Estate tried to pre-empt a lawsuit by taking the photographer whose work was stolen to course. Honestly, you can’t make this up. Goldsmith eventually won, however, she still ended up selling her house for it.

Woke up yesterday morning to dozens of tags about this. Apparently @shakira was inspired by my 2018 shibari mermaid… 😬

Now what? Does this mean I finally made it? Famous peeps be copying my stuff? Coulda just hired me 😅 pic.twitter.com/OVzFc400Yh

— renee robyn (@reneerobynphoto) February 15, 2023

Well known digital artist and photographer Renee Robyn actually came out well when Latino star Shakira used an image of a tied-up mermaid that was spookily similar to one of Renee’s. After a bit of a go-around on social media and contacting the PR for the singer, her team licensed the pose from Robyn. Once again, the original far surpasses the copy.

But it doesn’t always go in the favour of the photographer. Celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D actually won her case when she was taken to court by a photographer for using his image of Miles Davis to make a tattoo. Von D claimed that she did the tattoo for free, so no money changed hands, even though she is now considered an influencer and posted the tattoo online in several videos and photos.

Generally, the law works in favour of the original creator, especially if the work has been registered with the copyright office (at least in the USA). To count as inspiration, there have to be discernible differences between the works, and it cannot be a direct copy of the original source. That is considered to be derivative work.

In the album cover of Sabrina Carpenter, you could argue that she is skating on very thin ice here. The background is the same, the pose is the same, the lipstick detail is the same. Sure, the hairstyle is different, and the subject’s gaze is different, but these seem like tiny details.

But the online commenters haven’t let the similarities between the images go unnoticed at least. “Just literally copied and pasted the inspo,” one person tweeted. While it’s not an exact copy of the other photograph, the similarities are undeniable. Still, in terms of whether it’s inspiration or a copy, this one would have to be left to a judge to decide if it ever got as far as the courts.

[via the independent]

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