Blogging, Celebrities, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Pictures

A Cautionary Tale for Celebrity Gossip Bloggers

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The Hollywood paparazzi are frequently condemned as the lowest of the low, most often by the celebrities they stalk photograph. But now they get to act superior to someone — even if that “someone” is a mere gossip blogger (albeit one of the most widely-read ones on the internet):

Seven of Tinseltown’s top photo agencies have threatened to sue the popular celebrity-skewering site PerezHilton.com for allegedly stealing their pictures, a spokesman for the shutterbugs said last night.

“Perez claims he is making a fortune off exploiting pictures taken by photographers. He blatantly violates copyright and makes advertising revenues off other people’s works. It’s time he is held accountable for his actions,” Gary Morgan of Splash News said in a statement.

PerezHilton.com routinely posts the most salacious celeb shots – like this week’s panty-free Britney Spears – without crediting the photographer or agency. The ripped-off lensmen say the site, which bills itself as “Hollywood’s Most-Hated Web Site” routinely fails to pay for use of their pics.

We’d actually be interested in seeing a lawsuit between the photographers and Perez Hilton (aka Mario Lavandeira). It might helpfully delineate the contours of the somewhat fuzzy “fair use” doctrine.
(Hey Mario: To avoid such troubles in the future, get your photos and graphics from here, here, and similar websites. Unfortunately, their collection of Lindsay Lohan pics is a bit limited.)
Our pics worth thousands of dollars: lawsuit [New York Post]

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