LeBron James Sued For Posting A Picture Of Himself Without The Photographers' Permission

Los Angeles Lakers' basketball player, LeBron James, is being sued for posting a picture of himself:

Many people use their artwork being shared by a celebrity as an opportunity for exposure. Others sometimes feel that having their artwork shared without their permission causes them to lose revenue which results in taking legal action.

Steve Mitchell, the photographer that captured the picture LeBron posted to his Instagram, decided to take legal action. Earlier this week, copyright attorney Richard Liebowitz filed a lawsuit against James on Mitchell’s behalf.

Mitchell and his attorney believe that James has violated multiple copyrights and is seeking $150,000 per violation. The exact number of violations has not been released to the public.

The USA, arguably, has some of the strictest copyright rules. In layman’s terms under copyright laws anything that a person creates is automatically owned by them and is subject to copyright. If another party wants to use anything that has been created by someone other than themselves, they must obtain consent from the creator. This consent can come at a cost – as it does for many people who make a living off of their artwork or creations. There are many loopholes to these laws, more and more arising with the growth of technology. But an artist that believes their copyright has been violated and that use of their artwork or creation resulted in them losing credibility or revenue, can sue whomever published their artwork or creation without their permission.

Even if the artwork is of themselves i.e. a picture of you that was taken by someone else.

There have been no further developments in this story.

What would you do if a celebrity posted your artwork or creation without your permission?