LeBron James Sued For $150K After Posting Photo Of Himself Dunking
LA Lakers star LeBron James is being sued for $150,000 after the baller posted a photo of himself dunking, taken by an NBA photographer.
The shooter, Steven Mitchell, claims on December 13, 2019, he captured a dope shot of LBJ dunking on Miami Heat player Meyers Leonard. Mitchell says LBJ stole the photo and posted it across his Instagram and Facebook pages without his permission.
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On Monday (Mar 23), New York copyright attorney Richard Liebowitz filed a lawsuit against LBJ, on behalf of Mitchell, seeking damages that “would reflect profits, income, receipts and other benefits derived by James and his co-defendants or, in the alternative, damages of up to $150,000 per infringement.”
While some creatives don’t mind celebrities reposting their work, others wish to be recognized. In this case, Mitchell is the latter, and is suing LBJ for infringing on the multiple copyrights he has on the image.
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The suit states, “The defendants are accused of infringing’s Mitchell copyright by reproducing and publicly displaying the photograph without the photographer’s consent. Mitchell demands a jury trial to assess whether Section 501 of the federal Copyright Act was violated.”
Furthermore, the image LBJ posted here, is captioned, “What.A.Time.To.Be.Alive and I’m LIVING with Pure Joy! Thank you 🏀. P.S. Miami always love y’all! ❤️. Great win last night Gang Gang 🤟🏾 #LakeShow💜💛#ThekidfromAKRON🤴🏾 #JamesGang👑 #SFG🚀”