Jennifer Lopez faces a demand for copyright for publishing photos of herself on her social networks | People
On Saturday, January 4, 2025, Jennifer Lopez (New York, 55 years old) went to the Amazon MGM Studios X Vanity Fair party at the Marmont Bar in Los Angeles (California), on the night before the Golden Globes gala. The singer and actress published a series of photos of the evening on her Instagram – where he accumulates 248 million followers. X – with 43.6 million—, wearing a white leather coat and a lingerie dress, and holding a Chanel bag. Four months later, on Saturday, May 17, photographer Edwin Blanco and the photography and news agency Backgrid USA have filed a lawsuit against Lopez stating that they are co -owners of these images and claiming a copyright violation because in the photographs no credit appears and because the three parties did not reach a monetary agreement prior to the publications.
In the lawsuit, presented jointly by the photographer and the agency before a federal court, it is alleged that the singer of Let’s get loud He published the photos to promote the designers who wore at the event without a visible water mark. In social networks, Lopez only wrote: “weekend glamor.” White and Backgrid USA search for statutory damage – a form of monetary compensation – of up to $ 150,000 (132,477 euros, to the current change) for each photograph used, according to the documents to which US media have had access such as Los Angeles Times and Billboard. In total, they demand Lopez 1.35 million dollars (1.19 million euros) because he published nine photos, four in X and five on Instagram. They also ask for a jury trial.
In a statement to Billboardlawyer Peter Perkowski, who represents Blanco and Backgrid USA, affirms that the use of Lopez of the photos had a commercial purpose: “The unauthorized use of the images by Mrs. Lopez has a commercial character, for self -promotion purposes.” And he adds: “For example, Mrs. Lopez used the images to highlight the designer of her clothes and jewels, taking advantage of the advertising of the event to promote her affiliations to the fashion world and her collaborations with brands.” At the moment, neither Lopez nor their representatives have talked about demand, nor have they done white nor Backgrid USA.
According to the demands, a Backgrid and Blanco representative contacted Lopez’s team about the alleged violation of copyright the following week of the publications. Perkowski states that both parties had “fruitful discussions” and reached a verbal monetary agreement, but that the singer never signed a written agreement or paid the promised money.
In addition, the lawsuit also notes that Lopez was already previously sued in 2019 for publishing an unauthorized image of a paparazi in which he appeared with his then boyfriend, Alex Rodriguez, on his Instagram account. That demand, also defended by Perkowski, was voluntarily withdrawn in 2020. “This previous litigation put Mrs. Lopez in notice on the legal requirements and the possible consequences associated with the use of images protected by copyright without the proper authorization. Despite this, Mrs. Lopez has continued to be involved in similar behaviors, demonstrating an intentional contempt for the author’s rights Backgrid through a behavior pattern that undermines the rights of content creators, ”he criticizes.
And in 2020, the producer founded by the artist, Nuyorican Productions, also faced a demand for 40 million dollars from a woman who inspired Ramona Vega’s character, played by Lopez, in the film Wall Street scammers (2019).
Lopez is not the first artist who has faced a demand for copyright. Singer Miley Cyrus was accused in September 2024 of violating the copyright of the songs of the song WHEN I WAS YOUR MAN (2013), by Bruno Mars, in its 2023 success Flowers. The demand was not filed by the singer or the composer of the supposedly plagiarized song, Philip Lawrence, but by the company that owns the artist’s catalog, Tempo Music Investments. The last update of this litigation, still underway, is that a judge has denied the singer the possibility of withdrawing the plagiarism demand.
A case similar to Cyrus, but with a different outcome, the singer Dua Lipa lived in March 2022 for her song Levitating (2020). That year, composers L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer sued the pop star alleging that he had copied two songs from the seventies and eighties: Wiggle and Giggle All Night (1979), by Cory Daye, and Don Diabloof the Spanish singer Miguel Bosé. Finally, a judge denied the lawsuit.
The United States copyright law favors photographers and the people and agencies that have the licenses of the images. Therefore, celebrities are not automatically co -owners of their images and have no right to republic them for free.
