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Legal
Rihanna video faces second legal claim from photographer
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 30 June 2011
Rihanna is facing a second lawsuit over her video for ‘S&M’.
You might remember that photo man David LaChapelle claimed the video ripped off a lot of ideas and imagery used in a Vogue photo shoot he’d once done.
Now a German photographer called Phiipp Paulus is making similar claims, arguing one scene in particular is a direct copy of one his works – the bit where Rihanna wears a big dress and stands up against behind a plastic sheet, surrounded by Xs.
It seems likely the pop promo’s director, Melina Matsoukas, was influenced by both the photo collections when conceiving the S&M themed video for ‘S&M’, though reps for Rihanna and her record company argue that that in itself cannot constitute copyright infringement.
