After Gigi Hadid and Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande is being sued for posting photos of herself to Instagram without the photographer’s permission. She shared two paparazzi photos with her followers, and now she is facing a lawsuit to at least $25,000 for each.
Grande posted two images by New York-based photographer Robert Barbera. NBC News describes that they were placed side-by-side, with the caption “happy sweetener day” to celebrate the release of her album, Sweetener. The same source writes that the post gained over than 3 million likes, but it has been removed from the singer’s Instagram page.
The lawsuit states that Barbera is the author of the images Grande posted to her Instagram. Therefore, he has “at all times been the sole owner of all right, title and interest in and to the photographs, including the copyright thereto.”
The photographer has sued Grande and her company Grandari. He is seeking either $25,000 for each photo or the profits Grande earned for posting them, whichever sum is greater.
Perhaps you remember that Ariana Grande recently got under fire after requiring photographers to transfer their copyright of the concert images to her tour company. However, the photos Barbera took weren’t taken at Grande’s concert, but in the street. I’m not really a fan of paparazzi, but the fact is that Barbera took these images and he has every right to protect them from copyright infringement. So, I think he has a solid chance of winning the lawsuit. And frankly, I hope he wins.
[via NBC News; image credits: Emma/Wikimedia Commons]
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