The INSIDER Summary:
- Photographer Peter Cepeda is reportedly suing Gigi Hadid for "stealing" one of his photos.
- Cepeda claims that the model shared the "stolen" picture on her Instagram and Twitter accounts without his permission.
- According to The Blast, Cepeda is suing for damages and an injunction that would prohibit Hadid from using his photos.
A photographer is reportedly suing model Gigi Hadid for copyright infringement.
In the alleged lawsuit, Peter Cepeda claims Hadid shared one of his photos online without his permission, The Blast reported.
According to Cepeda, he took a picture of Hadid wearing a customized Adidas jacket in July 2016 that was "exclusive" to his agency, INF Photo. His agency later sold the photo to publications such as the Daily Mail. "Gigi Hadid then decided to take the photo from Daily Mail, remove my credit/byline, and post it onto her Instagram social media account," Cepeda wrote in a blog post last year.
Update: When INSIDER reached out to Cepeda, he directed us to his lawyer. According to his lawyer, Cepeda "will refrain from commenting on the pending lawsuit" for the time being.
The photo, which Hadid captioned "work flow" on Instagram, features the model wearing hair rollers and a jacket with a modified Adidas logo. Specifically, the last two letters in "Adidas" have been crossed out and an "H" has been added, so that the logo appears as the model's last name, "Hadid."
Cepeda, a "freelance news and celebrity photographer" based in Brooklyn, New York, claims to be the sole owner of the copyright for the photo and is reportedly suing for damages. According to The Blast, "numerous demands" for Hadid to remove the social media posts have gone "unanswered." Cepeda is also suing for an injunction that would prohibit the model from using his photos.
In his blog post, the photographer argued that copyright infringement "is only the beginning of the problem."
As he explained, after Hadid posted the photo on her Instagram, major publications such as E! News then shared Hadid's Instagram post instead of crediting Cepeda. More importantly, according to Cepeda, such publications would typically have to "go through [his] agency to purchase this content."
While the photographer conceded in his blog post that there's "no concrete solution" for copyright infringement, he criticized "websites" and "huge companies" for making it "too easy to steal photos." Cepeda wrote: "When I capture something worthwhile, I submit my content to an agency, they distribute & sell it, and we both get a percentage of sales. That's how it works…or at least that's how it's supposed to work."
A potential lawsuit isn't the only thing Hadid may have to contend with. The model is also facing criticism after a video of her appearing to mimic an Asian man's facial features surfaced online; now, many Victoria's Secret fans in China are calling for her to be removed from the lingerie brand's runway show, which is taking place in Shanghai later this year. Though the model has apologized, many people don't think her apology is enough.
INSIDER has contacted a representative for Gigi Hadid for comment.
