05 Jul DUA LIPA SUED OVER INSTAGRAM PHOTOS

Dua Lipa is being sued by a photographer who claims the British singer infringed his copyright by posting his paparazzi shots of her on Instagram.

It has been reported that New York-based Robert Barbera has filed a complaint in a California court saying he took the pictures in 2018 and claiming that Lipa, “without permission or authorisation… volitionally selected, copied, stored and displayed each of [his] copyright protected Photographs”.

The images show Lipa wearing a black sweater emblazoned with the word “HEROES” in large capital letters.

Barbera’s complaint goes on to claim that Lipa’s alleged infringements increased traffic to her Instagram account “and, in turn, caused Defendant to realize an increase in the revenues generated via Defendant’s promotional events and the sale of Defendant’s musical works”. It states that the photographer, who is seeking damages and other remedies, attempted to resolve the case out of court in 2019, but that communication between the parties “slowed and eventually stopped” after he provided Lipa with a draft version of his legal complaint.

Neither Lipa nor Barbera have commented on the complaint.   Both parties have been involved in similar cases before. Last October, a lawsuit brought by photo agency Integral Images against Lipa over photos of her posted online was reportedly dismissed.

Meanwhile, Barbera previously tried to sue singer Ariana Grande for copyright infringement on two occasions, in 2019 and 2020, over her posting on Instagram photos of her taken by him: both cases were dismissed. A similar October 2019 claim against singer Justin Bieber was reportedly settled out of court.