Blac Chyna declined to settle with a popular celebrity photo agency over the unauthorized use of paparazzi pics of herself on her social media accounts.
Photo agency BACKGRID USA sued Rob Kardashian’s baby mama for copyright infringement, seeking $150,000 for each photo.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the Hollywood socialite attended a court-ordered mediation meeting with photo agency BACKGRID earlier this month.
The two parties failed to reach a financial settlement for the unauthorized use of several paparazzi photos she posted on Instagram.com.
BACKGRID says the socialite posted pics of herself on September 13, 2017, and October 27, 2017 — images that were taken by BACKGRID’s photographers.
The company claims they own the rights to the photos and never licensed the images to Chyna.
BACKGRID said one of the photos in question shows the mother-of-2 promoting a fashion brand (most likely Fashion Nova), so she basically profited off the unauthorized use of their photo.
Chyna, 30, is demanding the lawsuit be dismissed. She argued that the alleged reposting on social media was fair use.
Chyna’s refusal to reach a settlement paves the way for a courtroom showdown in 2019.
BACKGRID has been successful in deleting or suspended multiple social media accounts that used their photos without permission.
Popular blogger Jason Lee lost his @HollywoodUnlocked Instagram page — which garnered over 1 million users — and his backup page, @Hollywoodxunlocked, after BACKGRID filed a copyright claim with the photo sharing giant.
Other Instagram bloggers who lost their popular pages include @LoveBScott, @FashionBombDaily, @Fameolous and @FreddyO.
Photos by BKNY / FANA / VM/ BACKGRID
