Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has been sued for $150,000 for uploading a picture on Instagram.
E! reports that court documents show that Steve Sands, a New York photographer, is accusing Lopez and her production company of copyright infringement and is seeking $150,000 in damages.
According to the federal lawsuit, Lopez used the photograph of her taken by Sands to promote their brand on Instagram (where she has over 119 million followers) without seeking permission to post or giving out compensation.
The picture got more than 656,000 likes and the lawsuit states:
“Defendants did not license the photograph from Plaintiff for its website, nor did defendants have Plaintiff’s permission or consent to publish the photograph on its website.”
The court documents say that the photographer is entitled to statutory damages up to $150,000 per work infringed.
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court by an attorney, Richard Liebowitz.
Speaking to E! News, Liebowitz, said:
“This is an example of celebrities using photographers’ photographs without permission to brand themselves on social media. The number of likes the photograph receives, coupled with their number of social media followers is a tool to commercialize their posts.”
