14 DAY TRIAL // Jennifer Lawrence, Hollywood's sweetheart, has been the biggest victim of the recent intimate photo leak scandal, so it stands to reason that she'd be the first to begin battling the hacker, trying to prevent the explicit material from spreading.
Her legal team is busy these days finding out websites that posted her photos and having them taken down using copyright claims. So far, so good, but TMZ has pointed out that some of the websites are not backing down and their argument is that Jennifer does not own the copyright to the non-selfie photos.
They argue that in images where she was photographed by another person, it's the person wielding the camera who has the copyright and only that person can ask for the removal of the material in question. The website in question is asking for proof of copyright, or the name of the person who took the incriminating photos.
This issue has arisen at least once before, during the famous Oscar selfie incident, where host Ellen DeGeneres asked Bradley Cooper to snap a photo of a large group of actors, including her. Later, it was proven that it was Cooper who actually owned the copyright to the photo and not DeGeneres, who owned the phone and set up the shot.
That photo went on to become the most shared photo on social media, and a Samsung exec once evaluated it to be worth over two billion dollars, but the sum was only referring to the image's marketing power, it was not a lump sum for commercial value.
For Jennifer, this is bad news, because it means that she can't convince websites to take down non-selfie photos until she has convincing proof that she owns the copyright. That means that images with her undressed are going to keep to float around the internet, possibly damaging her public image.
Insiders reported earlier this week that Lawrence was also worried this scandal was going to affect her career and influence future roles, but so far there's been no proof of that. Most of the reactions people had after the leak were positive and fans chose to show their support.
Other female celebrities involved in the scandal, such as Kate Upton, Victoria Justice and McKayla Maroney, have all taken similar action, having their lawyers fire off legal letters to anyone who reported their leaked photos.
As of yesterday, the FBI has announced that it was looking into the matter and had begun an official investigation. Initial claims showed that the leak was caused by a so-called celebrity intimate photo trading ring, who specialized in hacking celebrity accounts to obtain private material.