Getting a selfie with a famous person has become ubiquitous — after all, if you didn’t get a snap with the celebrity you met, did you even really meet them? Do you have any proof ? Most people just snap a pic with a celeb and go about their day, but sometimes, posting that pic can get you in some hot water.
A woman in Australia faced some unforeseen legal issues when she posted a selfie with Kylie Jenner to her personal page.
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The broader case is about lingerie, sunglasses, and the right to post photos on your social media.
The woman in question, Linda Hammond, was previously the co-founder of sunglasses brand Quay, which has been worn by celebrities like Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and (you guessed it) Kylie Jenner.
Kylie Jenner had taken part in a sponsored photoshoot for Quay in 2017.
As part of her deal to endorse their products online for a following period of nine months, Kylie took a selfie with Hammond. She also allowed Hammond to post the selfie to her personal Instagram page.
Since then, Hammond has sold most of her shares in Quay.
Hammond has been focusing on her new lingerie brand, Dream Bandits, which launched this year. Quay was sold to a British company called Elevate.
Elevate has not been pleased so far with how Hammond has been running Dream Bandits.
Elevate took Hammond to court over a number of issues, including luring Quay staff to her new company, infringing on Quay’s copyrights and trademarks (including Instagram posts), and, of course, the selfie with Kylie Jenner.
Hammond had shared the photo twice.
Once was right after the photoshoot, and the second time was in May, captioned “Thankyou Facebook memories. 2 years ago today” with a black heart emoji, tagging Kylie’s Instagram handle and including the hashtag #kyliejenner.
Elevate claims the repost means Kylie could sue them.
Their argument was that since the photo was taken as a part of Kylie’s contract with Quay, since the contract has expired, they no longer have the license to post the photo.
Hammond remains on Quay’s board of directors.
Her association with Quay is the main reason why Elevate has asked her to refrain from using Kylie’s name or image online.
Kind of hard to do in 2019.
However, a judge has now ruled: Hammond does not have to delete the selfie.
The judge found that Hammond owned the photo, and had originally obtained permission to share the image on her personal account from Kylie herself.
The judge said it wasn’t really a promotional image.
“Its un-posed familiarity and informality would suggest that it was not intended to be anything more than a modern-day photographic equivalent of what was once an autograph,” the ruling read.
They also noted that if Kylie was going to take a legal issue with the photo, she probably would’ve already.
They said, “I infer that if Ms. Jenner or her management are meticulous in protecting the use of her image, as the applicants’ case presumes that they are, this post is likely to have come to their attention.”
This isn’t the first selfie to cause a stir in court.
And it likely won’t be the last. Selfies can raise interesting issues when it comes to copyright, especially when celebrities are involved. Generally speaking, the person who takes the photograph owns the copyright, but it can be a little bit more complicated.
Like this selfie of a monkey.
In 2011, British photographer David Slater left his camera standing around a group of monkeys to try to get a unique shot. One of the monkeys was interested in his reflection in the lens of the camera, picked it up, and snapped this famous shot.
However, the picture soon became the subject of an intense legal battle.
Due to the fact that the monkey, not Slater, took the photograph and is the subject of the photograph, Wikipedia and others claimed that the image was in the public domain.
The argument was, essentially, that the monkey was the copyright holder of the photograph.
Since monkeys can’t legally hold copyright, and definitely can’t sue for copyright infringement, the image would be considered public domain. That meant nobody had to buy the photos off of Slater, so he lost all potential income he could’ve earned.
If we take a look at the selfie with Kylie that Hammond posted, it’s clear that Kylie took the picture.
Which does technically mean she holds the copyright to the photograph. Of course, like the judge said, if she cared about whether this selfie got posted, she likely would’ve already taken action about it.
But it’s worth noting — the next time you take a photo with a celebrity, make sure you’re the one holding the camera.
h/t: Buzzfeed News
