Dua Lipa sued for posting paparazzi photo on Instagram
Dua Lipa has been sued for a second time for posting a paparazzi photo of herself on Instagram.
The New Rules singer is being sued for copyright infringement by New York-based photographer Robert Barbera for posting photos he took of her in July 2018 on the social media platform without permission.
“Without permission or authorization from Plaintiff, Defendant volitionally selected, copied, stored and displayed each of Plaintiff’s copyright protected Photographs,” reads the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in California.
According to Billboard, Barbera claims that the pop star financially benefitted from sharing his copyrighted photos and harmed the “potential market” for them, negatively affecting his business.
The images show Dua wearing a black sweater featuring the word “HEROES” in large capital letters. After he discovered them on her account in June 2019, Barbera allegedly tried to resolve the matter outside of court but “communication slowed and eventually stopped”, although the snaps were removed from her account.
Barbera – who has previously tried to sue Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber for similar behaviour – is requesting actual damages, disgorgement of all profits relating to the post and an order banning Dua from infringing on his copyright in the future.
The Levitating singer was sued by Integral Images for the same reason last year. That case was dismissed with prejudice – meaning it cannot be refiled – in October.
