Bad News Jen: Jennifer Lopez Slapped With $150,000 Lawsuit
Jennifer Lopez only wanted to post a photo of her online. However, she got slapped with a $150,000 lawsuit instead.
J.Lo is currently facing a legal battle after New York photographer Steve Sands filed a federal lawsuit against the singer and her production company, Nuyorican Productions. The photographer is seeking $150,000 worth of damages for copyright infringement.
Sands' lawyer, Richard Liebowitz, submitted the legal document in Manhattan federal court and cited that J.Lo posted and shared a photo taken by Sands to her 119 million followers on Instagram.
"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 lawsuit claims.
The said photograph was taken by the New York-based photographer and posted it on the same social networking site on June 22, 2017.
The lawsuit also pointed out how the 50-year-old "If You Had My Love" singer used the portrait to promote her brand without asking permission to post nor giving the photographer compensation.
Sands, per the court documents, is "entitled to statutory damages up to $150,000 per work infringed."
"This is an example of celebrities using photographers photographs without permission to brand themselves on social media," Liebowitz told E! News. "The number of likes the photograph receives coupled with their number of social media followers is a tool to commercialize their posts."
Not The First Time!
This is not the first time that the "Maid in Manhattan" actress has faced the same issue.
In October 2019, J.Lo was also sued for $150,000 by Splash News and Picture Agency after she posted on her Instagram Story a Splash photo of her holding hands with Alex Rodriguez when they had breakfast in New York back in November 2017.
As stated on the court filings, the suit sought for two counts of damages from the "Love Don't Cost a Thing" hitmaker.
"(Splash) never licensed the photo to (Lopez). Nevertheless, Lopez (or someone acting on her behalf) used it without authorization or permission to do so," the suit stated.
The document also named Splash News and Picture Agency as the owner and exclusive copyright holder of the said photograph.
In addition, they described the photo as "creative, distinctive and valuable." With that said, Splash and its photographer remained firm to gain revenue as part of the licensing of the photograph.
Moreover, J.Lo and her team were also prevously slapped with a $40 million lawsuit by Samantha Barbash, the inspiration behind "Hustlers" character Ramona.
The Blast reported and shared the court documents, wherein Barbash claimed that the film producers approached her before production to obtain a consent waiver from her for the production of the film and her portrayal. She refused to sign off on the consent or waive her privacy rights.
J.Lo is indeed no longer a stranger to this kind of legal battle. However, it is not pleasing to see a celebrity and a pap battle in the court.
