L: The video in question, R: "Striped Face"
The photographer David LaChapelle recently won a pre-trial hearing that will allow his lawsuit against Rihanna to proceed, Photo District News reports. The two superstars will go head-to-head, through their lawyers, in New York City District Court on August 10
Mr. LaChapelle argues that the video for Rihanna’s “S&M” lifts elements from his more sadomastichistic photographs, arguing that she told directors she wanted a “LaChapelle-esque video.” Though Rihanna argued fair use, the judge in the case wrote that the video and the LaChapelle images cited “share the frantic and surreal mood of women dominating men in a hypersaturated, claustrophobic domestic space.” So on it goes!
The Observer wrote about Janine Gordon’s copyright lawsuit against Ryan McGinley two weeks ago and learned from copyright lawyers that it’s pretty tricky to compare photos and video. Hopefully they can just work out a plea deal where Mr. LaChapelle takes pictures of the singer dressed as Nefertiti, or something.