Kanye West sued for Copyright Infringement (again)

The photographer Michaela Efford has brought a copyright infringement lawsuit against Kanye West for using her photography without her consent. West has once again embroiled in a copyright controversy just a few months after being accused of plagiarism in one of his songs .

On 4 October 2022, Kanye West posted a photo of the Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson that was captured by Michaela Efford during Paris Fashion Week in September 2022. The photographer claimed that she took the photo “with the intention of it being used commercially and for the purpose of display and/or public distribution”.

The photo chosen by West was no coincidence, having chosen it to mock Karefa-Johnson’s clothing, as an act of revenge against the criticism he received from the fashion editor for the collection that Kanye West presented in Paris, which was accompanied by the caption "White Lives Matter". Karefa-Johnson reproached the phrase as racist, and the criticism did not sit well with the rapper, thus, he posted photos of the Vogue editor to mock her outfits.

What Kanye didn't expect was that the photographs he uploaded to his social network without the photographer's permission were protected by copyright: the photograph subject of this lawsuit had already been registered with the US Copyright Office by Efford (which is a requirement for the launch of copyright infringement actions in the US).

Street-style photographs, as well as paparazzi photos, are often controversial because they generally lack the creativity necessary to amount to a copyrighted work due to the lack of creative input from the photographer. However, the photographer argues that "in creating the photograph, she selected the subject matter, timing, lighting, perspective, depth, lens and camera equipment used to capture the image". Furthermore, she has claimed that West's unauthorised usage of her photo has harmed her ability to market and profit from her work (i.e. she has lost her ability to sell them or otherwise commercialise them), and she is now pursuing unspecific damages.

It is not the first time that West has been sued for copyright infringement. In this new lawsuit, Michaela Efford seeks damages and restitution of all of Kanye West's profits attributable to the infringements, as well as an injunction prohibiting the rapper from any future infringing use of any of her works.