These days, social media users share any picture from any account without thinking twice about the privacy. Gigi Hadid is not just a super model but also a social media user. She was sued for sharing her own picture taken by paparazzi photograph on Instagram.
Today, she won that lawsuit and it is not just the win for Gigi but also other celebrities who don’t like to be stalked by Paparazzi’s and other magazines’ photographers time to time.
Gigi shared a Paparazzi picture of herself back in October, 2018. She had to deleted that photograph from Instagram on account of copyright issue. The company behind the photo, Xclusive-Lee, Inc. sued the model in January claiming that she didn’t take permission and thus she violated the copyright rules by posting the shot. So, 23-year-model removed that image.
On 18 July, Hadid won the lawsuit. According to Hollywood Reporter, U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen granted the model’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit because Xclusive,Inc. didn’t register that picture for copyright before they sued the model. She also rule that the company behind the picture can’t sue the model again once they done with copyright registration process of picture
“We are pleased that the Court granted our motion to dismiss this meritless case,” Hadid’s attorney, John Quinn, said in a statement to THR. “The Court’s decision recognized this case for what it was—an effort to extract a settlement from Ms. Hadid with little regard for the basic requirements of copyright law.”
According to People.com, Xclusive made a request for both damages and profit earned from that photo in the lawsuit. They argued that even though Hadid deleted that photo but 1.6 million liked and commented on it while it was available.
Super model shared a lengthy Instagram post where she made clear what she thought about all that matter. She revealed that photographers are always “stalking “ her to capture some shot of her. She understand that they do it for their living but she felt it like “mental/emotional toll” to be in the public eye 24/7.
She is not wrong, of course she is a celebrity but before all that she is a human being. Photographer should respect celebrity privacy but they have to earn their living from their photos and stories.
“To the paparazzi, I understand that this is how you make your living, and I respect that this is something I must accept with my job,” she ceded. “But there is a line. We are human beings, and sometimes it takes a lot of courage to engage with you because of the resentment I feel for the negative parts of these experiences.”
Hadid shared a picture but didn’t give credit to photographer , she also said that she didn’t know who took that picture. Good thing is she has won the lawsuit and we strongly believe that everyone deserve privacy.
