Someone's suing Mandy Moore for $150,000 for posting a photo of...herself
Someone who took a photo of Mandy Moore without her permission is suing Mandy Moore for posting that photo without permission. You following? We weren’t either. Luckily the team over at E! News is breaking it down for us: Photographer Josiah Kamau has filed a lawsuit against the This Is Us star for alleged copyright infringement, accusing her of reproducing and publicly displaying a picture he took of her without permission.
This all apparently stems from an Instagram Story Moore posted last week that included a screenshot of an extremely vital 2019 Daily Mail article titled “Mandy Moore stuns in red and blue striped dress for National Stripes Day event with J Crew.” The story included a shot Kamau had taken of the actress, who was indeed stunning in the aforementioned striped dress. Moore had been moved to post the screenshot after getting a laugh out of the photo caption: “American woman: The This Is Us actress looked patriotic as she dressed for the event in a sexy two-piece red and blue striped dress tied into a knot at the waist with a FRAME denim jacket.” No word on why she was looking at a story from last June. (If you’re curious, you can find the photo in question here.)
“This case demonstrates that celebrities must be vigilant about seeking permission from the photographer, who is the rightful owner and author of the photograph, before displaying photographs on their social media accounts,” Kamau’s attorney tells E! News, which reports that Kamau is seeking damages of up to $150,000 and is demanding a jury trial. “Photographers have a right to be compensated for their work, and are able to enforce their constitutional rights against those who violate copyright law.” Dog bites hand, much?
Moore—who just released her first album in over a decade—is just the latest celebrity to be sued for posting a paparazzi photo. Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber recently settled similar suits while Gigi Hadid successfully had her federal court case dismissed.
[via E Online]