Sports Illustrated Model Genevieve Morton Files $7 Million Lawsuit Over Adult Content Exposure
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South African model Genevieve Morton did not take kindly to the use of her name and likeness in bait-and-switch advertisements for adult content.
In court documents obtained by The Blast, the 37-year-old sued PornHub and its content partners like SPYIRL.COM. Morton claimed her non-consensual involvement in their marketing scheme caused her several damages, including "psychological distress."
Genevieve Morton Files Complaint Against PornHub & Its Content Partners
The Sports Illustrated model slapped the highlighted defendants with three misconduct allegations, "unfair competition, conspiracy, and unjust enrichment."
She stressed that PornHub and its content partners, especially SPYIRL.COM, took advantage of her fame to enrich their pockets. The documents alleged:
"Plaintiff's commercially valuable name and likeness were used without her knowledge or authorization by a verified content partner of PornHub in a series of social media posts advertising nonconsensual pornography to the direct financial benefit of PornHub and its content partner."
Morton stressed the defendants violated the Civil Code by using her commercially valuable name and likeness without consent. She noted that as a model with ties to family-friendly companies like Panini America, the pornography bait ads negatively affected her image.
The Super Model Is Suing For Over $7 Million
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In light of PornHub's and SPYIRL.COM's alleged violation of the Civil Code, Morton demanded compensation for their misconduct. She stressed that she deserved monetary benefits to cover her losses from the bait-and-switch advertisements. The documents read:
"Plaintiff suffered actual financial harm and other harm, including physical symptoms of psychological distress as the result of DEFENDANTS' misconduct in deceptively and unfairly inducing affiliates and content partners like SPYIRL to use Morton's commercially valuable name and likeness in bait-and-switch advertisements for highly offensive pornography, including illegal pornography, without Morton's knowledge or consent."
The South African requested a jury trial and injunctive relief, including compensatory damages in an amount no less than $7,379,014. She also requested punitive damages consistent with California's law, payment of her attorney fees, and costs incurred in the lawsuit.
Morton Sued X For Contributing To Copyright Infringement
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Three years before her issues with PornHub, Morton filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against X (formerly known as Twitter). This marked one of two legal filings she made against the social media platform in 2021.
The 37-year-old accused X's algorithm of contributing to copyright infringement by cropping photos of her that other social media users posted. She stressed that the "saliency algorithm" cropped and altered the infringed images without authorization.
Hence, the social media platform's actions created "an unauthorized derivative work." Business Insider reported that in Morton's first lawsuit, she sued X for failing to remove her copyrighted material, which was posted by unauthorized accounts.
The Model Wanted At Least $10 Million In Damages
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In her first lawsuit, Morton claimed an X account had posted two of her copyrighted photos without permission. She filed take-down requests for both photos; however, the social media platform allegedly took time to take action.
One removal, per the lawsuit, took about three months, while the other took about five weeks.
During that period, the X account got 67 likes for the copyrighted photos, and Morton wanted at least $150,000 in damages for each of those likes, totaling more than $10 million.
The model previously sued X for a similar incident in 2020, claiming an account had posted some of her copyrighted material. However, the Court granted the social media platform's motion to dismiss most of Morton's claims.
Genevieve Morton Said It's 'Frustrating' Trying To Control Her Image
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During her legal battle with X, Morton confessed that it was "frustrating" trying to control her copyrighted materials and images. She also accused the social media platform of favoring its content creators over her, saying:
"Technology companies and social media platforms should be on the side of the artists and content creators because that's what makes these sites interesting and valuable."
The media personality added: "When I learned Twitter [now X] had developed artificially intelligent cropping tools using male engineers who impose their own biases, enough was enough."
At the time, Morton's lawyer, Jennifer Holliday, declined to discuss the lawsuit in detail. However, she noted that it was the first time X had been sued over its algorithm and cropping tools.
