No Self-Promotion: Lisa Rinna Is Sued for Posting Paparazzi Photos of Herself

As recently reported by the Los Angeles Times, Lisa Rinna, famous for her roles in the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” as well as the reality TV series “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”, has been sued for copyright infringement for posting a photo taken by paparazzi on her Instagram page. The photographer is being represented by an agency, Backgrid. They are claiming $1.2 million in damages for the eight images Rinna posted of herself on her Instagram page.

Rinna has filed a defence claiming that the Backgrid has “weaponised the Copyright Act” and that Backgrid is merely pursuing this matter as a means to make up for lost revenue during the pandemic.

Rinna is not the first celebrity to be sued for sharing photos taken by paparazzi. According to the defence Rinna filed, Backgrid has filed nearly 50 other copyright infringement cases since 2018, most of which were made in the past year and a half.

Litigation records reportedly reveal that most of these cases tend to conclude with an out-of-court settlement.

Authors: Mark Leonard and Eran Rubman, 2021/2022 Articling Student-at-law