Copyright Infringement Article - Rihanna vs. LaChapelle

http://www.pdnonline.com/news/Rihanna-Settles-Laws-3825.shtml

Rihanna has reached an out-of-court settlement agreement with photographer David LaChapelle, who sued her earlier this year for copyright infringement. Terms of the settlement were not released to the public. LaChapelle wanted at least $1 million in damages from Rihanna,  claiming that some scenes from the video for her hit single called "S&M" were rip-offs of sadomasochistic images LaChapelle had created and/or published over the years. The photographer said in his lawsuit that Rihanna had asked multiple directors to create a "LaChapelle-esque video" for "S&M," and that she had provided a storyboard for the video that actually included prints of some of LaChapelle's photographs. Her lawyers argued that although her video and LaChapelle's images expressed similar ideas, they did so in different ways. The images are very similar in appearance, and I personally think she did take off off LaChapelle’s imagery to film her music video. However, under federal copyright law, it is the execution of ideas (and not the ideas themselves) that are protected. The ruling cleared the way for a trial in the case, forcing Rihanna to decide whether  to defend her position before a jury- or settle out of court. She decided to settle out of court. WE don’t know how much she settled with LaChapelle for, but I would have to assume it was a large sum of money as Chapelle feels that his ideas and images have been robbed.

On the left is Rihanna's images and on the right are LaChapelle's. Clearly ideas were used. The imagery is vivid and provocative, probably offensive to some. The subject matter is not protectable, the court stated, but the particular way that Rihanna's video portrayed the scene--for example the set, wardrobe, "generally frantic mood" and lighting--was "substantially similar" to LaChapelle's images, the judge said. Personally I feel like LaChapelle did deserve a large settlement after seeing some of his images and then watching the video. There are many obvious similarities that can be seen as copyright infringement of his images throughout the music video. The song's title, "S&M", also refers to sadomasochism, the subject matter in which LaChapelle's photographs were centered around.