Gigi Hadid stays winning!
The 23-year-old model has officially walked away unscathed after a Brooklyn federal court judge tossed out a lawsuit filed by a paparazzi agency against the supermodel after she posted one of their pictures on to her official Instagram account without permission nearly a year ago.
Related: Gigi Claps Back At A Fan On Twitter — But Did She Overreact?!
Judge Pamela Chen ruled this week in federal court that the lawsuit filed by Xclusive-Lee Inc. was “baseless,” considering the fact that they came after Hadid and filed suit without even owning the copyright on the picture they sued her over!
Chen noted that the agency had only applied for copyright — and had NOT been formally granted registration — at the time they filed suit against the catwalker. Thus, Chen ruled, the suit was baseless — and she threw it out altogether.
In arguing the suit ahead of the judge’s decision, Hadid’s lawyers had contended that the lawsuit was similar to an extortion attempt. Not surprisingly, they were ecstatic to learn of the judge’s decision in the case. John Quinn, who represented Hadid in the suit, relayed this statement to the public after the decision came down (below):
“We are pleased that the Court granted our motion to dismiss this meritless case. The Court’s decision recognized this case for what it was — an effort to extract a settlement from Ms. Hadid with little regard for the basic requirements of copyright law.”
No kidding… and definitely a nice, simple, easy win for the supermodel!
As you’ll recall, Hadid herself initially blasted the lawsuit about ten months ago on her IG account, when she told fans the story of how she posted (and quickly deleted) the picture in question after the suit was filed — and how she felt even then that legal action was predatory and unnecessary:
Amen!
Good for her, as far as suits like this go — as Hadid herself notes, paparazzi tactics are often aggressive, unforgiving, and unrelenting, and so it’s nice to see the tables turned sometimes, and justice handed out to those who deserve it, all in a day’s work in court. Whew!
Gigi herself has not commented publicly or on social media about the lawsuit, or the judge’s decision, yet. As for the photo agency, it’s unclear whether they will try to re-file the lawsuit or change their tactics but, well, things appear to be over and done with — for now, at least.
What do y’all think of this lawsuit result, Perezcious readers?! Should Gigi have walked away a winner here with the lawsuit dismissal, as she did, or are you on the side of the photo agency here and against the supermodel? Sound OFF about everything Gigi-related and more in the comment section (below)!!!
[Image via WENN]
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