Lauren Conrad Sued Over Beauty Company, Accused Of Ripping Off Artist
“The Hills” star [Lauren Conrad} is being sued by an artist accusing her of making money off his work without paying him a dime.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, professional photographer Justin Cook has filed a federal lawsuit against Lauren Conrad Beauty Co. The photographer says he owns the copyright to a photo of a yoga teacher Jessamyn Stanley.
He takes issue with an April 23, 2019 blog posted on Lauren Conrad’s website. The post was entitled, “10 Women Who Are Using Social Media For Social Good.” The lawsuit accuses Lauren Conrad of using his photograph in the article without permission or paying him a dime.
The suit states, “Lauren Conrad did not license the Photograph from Plaintiff for its article, nor did Lauren Conrad have Plaintiff’s permission or consent to publish the Photograph on its Website.”
Cook accuses Conrad of copyright infringement saying, “Conrad have been willful, intentional, and purposeful, in disregard of and indifference to Plaintiff’s rights.”The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages including profits Conrad made “of any kind attributable to Defendant’s infringement of Plaintiff’s Photograph.”
The photographer also wants Conrad to pay up in punitive damages. He is asking a court to force her to hand over accounting of all her profits and income derived from ripping off his work.
Conrad is the latest celebrity to be sued over similar claims. Earlier this month, Liam Hemsworth was sued by a paparazzi agency over his Instagram posts. The agency accused him of taking their copyrighted photos and using it to promote his movie “Isn’t It Romantic” with Rebel Wilson. He has yet to respond to the lawsuit in court.
His costar Rebel Wilson was hit with a separate lawsuit over identical claims. An agency claims she used their photos featuring Anne Hathaway without permission or paying them.
