Dior sued by Instagram influencer for copyright infringement

French luxury house Dior is being sued by an Instagram fashion influencer for allegedly using her images in their look books.

Under the social media guise of SwedishandStylish, the Florida native’s Instagram feed, which counts 168k followers, is a collection of selfies in often bejeweled high fashion looks, favouring brands like Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Versace and Dior. While her face is largely obscured, the backdrop to the sparkly fashion pieces is mostly in sun-drenched locations, restaurants, cars or events, whereby each designer garment or accessory is duly documented and hashtagged.

On March 9th, in the District Court of New York, SwedishandStylish LLC filed a complaint against Cristian Dior Inc., citing two claims of copyright infringement, specifically against the use of two images featured in the brand’s look books.

“By failing to obtain authorization from the copyright owner to use the photos or to compensate the copyright owner for [its] use [of the images],” which are “wholly original” and subject to registrations with the U.S. Copyright Office, Swedishandstylish LLC asserts that Dior “has avoided payment of license fees and other financial costs associated with obtaining permission to exploit the infringed photographs, as well as the restrictions to which the copyright owner is entitled to and would place on any such exploitation, including the right to deny permission altogether.”

According to The Fashion Law SwedishandStylish LLC has asked court to award it monetary damages, while also requiring Dior to “recall any products, works, or other materials that include, copy, are derived from, or otherwise embody one or both of the infringed photographs, and that Dior be ordered to destroy or deliver up for destruction all materials returned to it.”

Photo credit: @SwedishandStylish Instagram feed