Steve Sands is suing Jennifer Lopez and her Nuyorican Productions for $150-thousand dollars for using one of his photos without permission. He is a professional photographer snapped a shot of J-Lo while she was in public.He sold that photo to several media outlets. She allegedly copied it from one of those outlets and used it on IG to promote her brand. The pic was posted on June 22, 2017.
Steve's lawyer states "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. Ms Lopez did not license the Photograph from Plaintiff for [her] Website, nor did Defendants have Plaintiff’s permission or consent to publish the Photograph on [her] Website.” According to the paperwork, the soon-to-be Mrs.Alex Rodriguez has over 118 million followers. The photo got over 656-thousand likes.
Steve wants the money, an injunction prohibiting J-Lo from using his work without permission in the future, and all profits she made off using the photo. So far, she hasn’t responded.