Perez Hilton spends his days reporting on the ups and downs of celebrities' lives. Now that he is a celebrity of sorts himself and experiencing a "down" period, he is a perfect candidate for his own attack. However, the outspoken celeb blogger has remained silent on the building lawsuits against his website, PerezHilton.com.
Mario Lavandeira, as he was known before becoming the self-proclaimed "Gossip Gangstar," has been handed more lawsuits to add to his already messy paparazzi battle.
The blogger has been using paparazzi images from various agencies and news sites without permission, purchasing or acknowledgement of the source. And the snappers who spend their days chasing the rich and famous are unimpressed.
On April 23, U.S. photo agencies Splash, Bauer-Griffin, Flynet, INF and London Entertainment Picture filed a suit in the U.S. District court against Lavanderia seeking compensation after he used several of their images to accompany his blog postings.
Then, when he touched down in Sydney, Australia, for the MTV Video Music Awards, the "Queen Of All Media" was hit with another copyright infringement suit by PhotoNews agency.
The legal dealings join the original case filed by X17, an L.A. based paparazzi company - who also has a Perez Hilton-style blog - that began to sue in 2006.
Jamie Fawcett, of PhotoNews, claims that Lavandeira used a picture of John Mayer and Jessica Simpson without permission. The photo, Fawcett claims, was stolen from People.com who paid for the use.
Compared to the other lawsuits, Fawcett's thousands in damages is pocket change to the multi-millions of dollars Lavanderia might have to fork out.
The five U.S. agencies are claiming that Perez Hilton is guilty of 25 civil counts of copyright infringement, unfair competition by misappropriate of hot news and civil conspiracy.
However, Lavandeira believes differently. He told Canada.com in 2006, "I will defend my rights and freedoms under the law vigorously in court. Not just for me but for all bloggers. All successful people get sued. This is par for the course. I will use this as an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive."
But Gary Morgan, CEO of Splash News, doesn't agree. He calls the Florida native "un-American." He said in a press release, "Using someone else's only means of earning money to make yourself rich at their expense is most un-American. Photographers work incredibly long hours quite often on a commission only basis to earn their living and Perez's illegal use of the photos devalues their pictures in the legitimate celebrity magazine, TV and online world."
Another boss, Chris Doherty of INF, is calling for copyright laws to be enforced. He said, "Perez Hilton is making a mockery of the copyright laws in this country and all over the world, and it is now time for the U.S. legal system to recognize this and put a stop to it."
Lavandeira has recently been traveling around the world, building his name as an international media star. He is currently in Australia.
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