Jennifer Lopez is being sued for $150,000 for posting a photo of herself to Instagram that she allegedly did not own the rights to.
According to court documents filed in New York and obtained by Fox News, professional photographer Steve Sands is suing the 50-year-old singer and her production company, Nuyorican Productions, for copyright infringement.
The image in question was posted by JLo in 2017. Now, Sands is arguing that it was used without permission to “promote their brand” to her millions of Instagram followers. As of this writing, the image has garnered more than 656,000 likes.
“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 reads, noting that Sands is hoping for $150,000 over the infraction.
Representatives for Lopez did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Sands’ attorney, Richard Liebowitz, told Fox News in a statement: “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.”
Finding out about a lawsuit in the midst of a worldwide pandemic is likely the last thing that Lopez wants to deal with at the moment. She previously revealed that the situation with the world is already affecting her high-profile wedding plans with former MLB player Alex Rodriguez.
“It did affect it a little bit,” Lopez told Ellen DeGeneres during a recent remote appearance on her show. “So, we’ll see what happens now… I really don’t know what’s gonna happen now as far as dates or anything like that.”
“We are just kind of in a holding pattern like the rest of the world,” the “Hustlers” star added. “So, again, it’s just something we have to wait and see in a few months how this all pans out.”
