Legal experts told The Washington Post that the legal battle between the two rival social media companies “could change the influencer industry as we know it.”
A Texas woman with more than 500,000 followers has filed what may be the first lawsuit against another content creator, alleging that she copied her TikTok, Instagram, and Amazon Storefront posts.
Sydney Nicole Gifford, 24, said Alyssa Seal, 21, copied her “neutral, beige, cream aesthetic” and “went out in the same or significantly different ways.” [similar ] According to Texas court records, Giffords was promoting Amazon products and copying her writing.
Gifford said in court documents that the two women met in Austin in December 2022 “for the purpose of supporting each other’s businesses.”
However, after their joint photo shoot in January 2023, Seal began blocking Gifford online and replicating her content.
According to court documents, “at least” 30 photos posted to Seale’s platform used “the same style, tone, camera angles, and/or text” as Giffords’, as well as “near-identical videos.”
One of the allegedly copycat posts included Giffords’ visit to The Tox store in Austin, Texas, in October, while another post from December appeared to mimic one Giffords posted about “Best Home Buys on Amazon for 2023.”
According to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, two days after Giffords promoted Amazon home products, Sheil posted a nearly identical slideshow that was later removed by TikTok.
According to court documents, Giffords’ lawyers filed a cease and desist letter warning Sheil to stop the conduct.
Gifford has also successfully lobbied social platforms to remove other posts that he said infringed copyrights.
The amount of damage is unknown. Texas District Court
Gifford finally filed suit in April after Seal continued to copy her posts.
If the lawsuit is successful, he said, it “has the potential to change the game for influencers as we know it.” Tiffany Ferris, partner and chair of the trademark and advertising group at the international law firm Haynes & Boone.
If they were successful, it could lead to a flood of similar lawsuits and “make it significantly more difficult for influencers to create content,” she said.
Ferris, who is not connected to the case, said disputes between influencers are “often discussed” but never end up in court.
Gifford is asking the judge to ban Sheil from copying her content and to pay her damages.
“Ms. Gifford’s goal is to protect her work from infringement by copycats, and this case is significant because it asks the Court to apply long-standing legal principles to the modern challenges surrounding online content creation,” her lawyer, Kirsten Kumar, said.
Seale “strongly denies all allegations,” her lawyer, Jason McManis, said.
“Two influencers in the same area are asked to promote many of the same products and stores. When a store hires multiple influencers to promote their products, it’s not surprising that some of the posts are similar. That doesn’t make it copyright infringement or misappropriation,” McManis said.
He added, “The ‘look,’ ‘feel’ and ‘vibe’ are not protectable, and we look forward to defending Mr. Seale from these false accusations.”
