Insights

Authored by: Ramela Ohanian

This article reviews the right of publicity, its crossover with copyright law, and the implications of using photos—even if you are the main subject—on social media. Most of the time, we hear about celebrities suing others over the use of their pictures, such as when a celebrity’s picture is used in an advertising campaign without the celebrity’s permission. This article discusses situations where the celebrity is the one getting sued. Specifically, Instagram has been the medium for many of these lawsuits. But while Instagram has been around for the last decade, the right of publicity and copyright law have been around for much longer.