Miley Cyrus is being sued for copyright infringement after it was claimed that she lacked the authorization to use a photo of herself that she posted on Instagram.
Robert Barbera, the photographer who captured the image, filed a lawsuit against Cyrus for her usage of the image on Friday, September 9, in a federal court in California.
He asserts that she did not have his consent before posting the photograph on her Instagram in February 2021.
According to Bloomberg Law, Barbera’s case asserts that Cyrus profited financially from her offensive tweet, which increased traffic to her account and raised the amount of money she made from the sale of her songs.
According to Barbera, Cyrus’ “unlawful usage has hampered, if not destroyed, any market for the Photograph’s potentiality.”
The photographer is asking for both a jury trial and statutory and real damages.
Barbera sued Dua Lipa once again earlier this year for sharing one of his paparazzi images of her on Instagram.
According to reports, Barbera is suing Lipa for damages and penalties based on the potential earnings Lipa may have generated from the Instagram post, where she promotes her music, brand, and business endeavors.
He also says that he made an effort to resolve the conflict amicably with Lipa. The musician claims that contact “slowed and eventually stopped” after he got a draft of the complaint. She also deleted the offending pictures from her account.
This is Lipa’s second lawsuit in a year for posting paparazzi pictures of herself online. Integral Images filed a lawsuit against her for copyright infringement in July 2021. In the end, the claim was thrown out with prejudice in October.
Barbera has already brought such claims against Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, among other music singers. He made two attempts to sue Grande for allegedly sharing paparazzi images on Instagram in May 2019 and January 2020. Both of the cases were dropped. According to reports, the case against Bieber was resolved out of court.
