NYTimes Photographer Sues Perez Hilton for $2.1M Over Copyright Infringement
BuzzFeed isn’t the only blog that’s routinely accused of using photographs without permission. American celebrity blogger Perez Hilton (above right) is being whacked with a $2.1 million lawsuit by New York Times photographer Robert Caplin (above left) for publishing 14 photographs without permission.
According to court documents, Caplin claims Hilton (whose real name is Mario Lavandeira Jr.) used 14 copyrighted photographs of Glee actor Darren Criss without asking after Caplin published 32 of the photographs to an online gallery (the photographs were originally published in a New York Times story about Criss’ Broadway debut):
The Phoblographer reports that although Caplin’s websites contain preventative measures designed to combat “photo theft,” Hilton took screenshots of the photos in order to obtain them.
In addition to publishing the photos, Hilton slapped a “PEREZHILTON.COM” watermark to the photographs and linked the images to a store selling the clothing worn by Criss in the images:
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