Celebrity-focused websites are wildly popular. Websites are
incredible vacuum cleaners of content. Photographs are easy to copy
and publish without authorization. You get the picture: photographs
are easy to steal. Photographers are truly challenged in making
money from the licensing of their images because of this
combination of forces.
The alleged unauthorized use of a photograph came up in the
context of celebrity-oriented websites. More people than will admit
it are fascinated about the beauty secrets of the stars, about who
has had facelifts, who has had Botox injections and fillers -- and
who has not. In other words, people want to know if the beauty they
admire is artificial – or natural. If it's the former,
they want to emulate it -- even young women and men. Looking like
Mila Kunis or Johnny Depp is an elusive dream that many want but
only a few achieve. That dynamic obviously results in substantial
revenue for the cosmetics business, for estheticians, and
