The “Thank U, Next” singer has settled the lawsuit filed by New York-based paparazzi photographer Robert Barbera on May 13. According to court documents filed at the U.S. District Court of the Southern District, Barbera alleged that Grande violated copyright infringement over two of his photos the singer posted to her own Instagram account without his permission.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Barbera initially sued Grande for $25,000 in damages for each photo. The settlement was reached on July 18, with court documents stating: “The court having been advised that all claims asserted herein have been settled in principle, it is ordered that the above-entitled action be and is hereby dismissed and discontinued without costs.”
The two photos in question are paparazzi shots taken of Grande carrying a bag that reads “Sweetner,” which is the name of her fourth studio album. Grande had posted the images to her Instagram account on Aug. 17, 2018, captioning them with “happy sweetner day,” to celebrate the release of the album.After the lawsuit was filed, Grande deleted the images from her Instagram account. A screenshot of the original post was filed as evidence in the case, showing that it received 3,392,079 likes.
This isn’t the first time a celebrity has been sued over using paparazzi shots for their own purposes. In January, model Gigi Hadid was sued for violating copyright infringement for the second time for using a photographer’s image without permission. On July 18, a New York federal court allowed for Hadid’s motion to dismiss the suit.