According to The Blast , LeBron James was recently sued by a photographer for violating copyright law. Specifically, the 35-year-old star posted a photo on his personal Facebook page without receiving permission from photographer Steven Mitchell.
According to court documents received and shared by The Blast , photographer Steven Mitchell is suing LeBron James along with the star’s media company and family foundation (Uninterrupted and LRMR Ventures).
LeBron James is involved in a lawsuit related to copyright issues. (Illustration)
Through the lawsuit, LeBron James shared a photo of himself during a game against the Miami Heat without asking permission from Steven Mitchell. This violates Section 501 of the Copyright Act, because LeBron James posted the photo without the owner’s permission.
Steven Michell emphasized in the lawsuit that LeBron James did not ask for permission or offer to pay to use his image. According to documents from the lawsuit: “The defendant did not receive permission to use the photos on the website from the plaintiff”.
This photographer is suing LeBron James for copyright infringement for $150,000 (equivalent to nearly 3.5 billion VND). At the same time, Steven Mitchell also asked the Lakers star to hand over all profits earned from LeBron James’ Facebook post using the above photo.
If this lawsuit is successful, LeBron James will surely have to ask permission from those who previously took photos of him if he wants to upload virtual photos from now on.
In Steven Mitchel’s opinion, this photographer believes that he deserves all the profits or benefits that James gets in the article because it is illegal. It is known that the article where LeBron James used Steven Mitchel’s photo received 1,400 likes and 92 shares.
Not long ago, according to a study by the OnlineGambling website, the amount of money LeBron James earned through each post (with ads) on Instagram was 300,850 USD, equivalent to nearly 7 billion VND. Perhaps because of the money earned on the social network Instagram, LeBron James is once again bothered like that.
This is not the first time LeBron James has been sued over copyright issues. With his level of fame and wealth, this NBA star is one of the celebrities often mentioned in similar lawsuits.
Just at the end of February, LeBron James, along with Nike, Disney and Take-Two Interactive Software, also got into trouble for using the slogan “I Am More Than An Athelete”. Accordingly, GamePlan Inc. (the plaintiff) is asking for damages of up to 33 million USD (about 760 billion VND).
It is known that the slogan “I Am More Than An Athlete” has been copyrighted by GamePlan Inc, a non-profit organization based in Maryland since 2016. This slogan has appeared in several Washington Wizards match in the 2017 season and this organization was awarded for the meaning of the slogan on June 5, 2018.
LeBron James is one of the celebrities who is often bothered with such lawsuits.
Currently, LeBron James’ representative as well as this individual star have not answered any questions related to this lawsuit.
