American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has been reportedly sued to court for uploading a picture of herself and her fiance Alex Rodriguez on Instagram without permission.
Within Nigeria understands that the singer was sued for $150,000. Lopez was said to be taken to court by Splash New picture agency after she uploaded a snap of herself and Rodriguez on her Instagram story.
The image in question showed the 50-year-old holding hands with the athlete as they headed out in New York, back in 2017.
But according to court documents obtained by E! News and The Blast, the picture agency has stated they are the owner, and hold exclusive copyright for the photo in question, and didn’t give her permission to post it.
‘Plaintiff never licensed the Photograph to the defendant. Nevertheless, Lopez used it without authorisation or permission from the plaintiff to do so,’ E! reported the documents state.
‘Specifically, Lopez or someone acting on her behalf copied the Photograph and distributed it on Instagram, via the @jlo account, on a story posted November 7, 2017.”
Splash claimed JLo was notified of her infringement ‘through her representatives,’ by a letter from 12 December 2017.
“The Photograph is creative, distinctive, and valuable,’ they argued. ‘Because of the subject’s celebrity status, and the Photograph’s quality and visual appeal, the plaintiff (and the photographer it represents) stood to gain revenue from licensing the Photograph. ‘But the defendant’s unauthorised use harms the existing and future market for the original Photograph.”
“The Instagram post made the photograph immediately available to Lopez’s tens of millions followers and others, consumers of entertainment news—and especially news and images of Lopez herself, as evidenced by their status as followers of her—who would otherwise be interested in viewing licensed versions of the Photograph in the magazines and newspapers that are plaintiff’s customers.”