The social media generation has been notoriously casual about photographic rights. Recently, however, luminaries like Ariana Grande, Khloe Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and supermodel Gigi Hadid have been sued for posting images of themselves online.
In Hadid's case, paparazzi agency XClusive-Lee claimed the model violated its copyright when she cropped then shared a photo (with her more than 43 million Instagram followers) that had been taken of her by one of its photographers.
Hadid ultimately defeated the suit due to XClusive's defective paperwork. But while this case is now history, the unprecedented issues left unresolved will inevitably be adjudicated in the near future.
Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, James Sammataro, co-head of Pryor Cashman's Media + Entertainment Group, explores the legal intersection of a celebrity's right to profit from the use of their own image and a photographer's copyright in such images.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.