Attention Kim Kardashian: You Can't Sue Another Woman For Having A Big Ass And An Instagram Account

from the butt-why? dept

Let's pretend for a moment that for-some-reason-a-celebrity Kim Kardashian reads Techdirt. Someone needs to let her know that lawsuits and lawyers are not for temper tantrums over threats to your own celebrity. I'd have thought she'd have previously learned this lesson after Old Navy staved off the lawsuit she filed because the clothing company had the gall to hire a brunette woman for one of their commercials. It would appear not, now that she's reportedly investigating whether or not she can sue a woman named Jen Selter for "copying" Kim's poses (bwah?) and having a big ass.
Selter has been posting photographs of her large buttocks on Instagram, an activity Kardashian apparently feels is an unacceptable infringement upon her very raison d’etre: one of the gangplanks of Kim Kardashian’s global celebrity being her nonpareil ability to take photographs of her own large buttocks with a cameraphone. “Kim thinks Jen copies all her poses … she is fuming as she feels her curvy bum is one of her most unique selling points and feels that Jen is just trying to cash in.”
After, ahem, extensive research, I can assure you that there is very little in these poses that is either unique or identifiable as being Kardashian-esque, beyond the camera's fixation on the subject's posterior. This isn't a "Blue Steel" Zoolander thing, it's a series of pictures that feature an attractive woman with a particular physical asset. What appears to be upsetting Kardashian, according to the post, is that Selter has been winning modeling and endorsement gigs.
“Insiders say Kim has sought legal advice to see if they can stop Jen,” it read, raising the very real possibility that, somewhere in California, a crack team of lawyers may at this very moment be working around the clock to copyright buttocks on behalf of Kim Kardashian.
It likely wouldn't be copyright that would come into play, but possibly some combination of publicity rights and/or trademark (trying to think like a really bad lawyer would is not that easy). But so what? It isn't a violation of trademark or publicity rights to simply naturally look in some way similar to another person, and there is absolutely no attempt in these pictures at a depiction of anything to do with any Kardashian anywhere. This reeks of the Old Navy case all over again, except the "look alike" looks even less "alike," and you can expect any legal action from Kardashian to be similarly fruitless.
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Filed Under: copying, copyright, jen selter, kim kardashian, lawsuits, poses, publicity rights, trademark


Reader Comments

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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 10:33am

    So, asses copyrighting asses. Next!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 1:47pm

      Re:

      With a (butt)crack team of lawyers, no less.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 5:50pm

        Re: Re:

        Kim would never hire a half-assed lawyer. She knows a full-assed lawyer when she sees one.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    David, 4 Nov 2014 @ 10:37am

    So now SWAT teams are going to bust ass?

    If having a curvy butt is now a "copyright infringement", are we going to have SWAT teams not only arresting offending panties, but the behinds in them?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 10:39am

    When dumb is all you have, you'll want to defend it with your life.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Nigel (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 10:50am

    She is just pissed that chic is marginally more attractive lol..

    And since when is an entirely over-sized ass a unique selling proposition. I think I missed that memo.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 10:53am

    "After, ahem, extensive research, I can assure you that there is very little in these poses that is either unique or identifiable as being Kardashian-esque, beyond the camera's fixation on the subject's posterior."

    I'm afraid Tim; I'm not going to be able to take you at your word. I feel, in the interest of due diligence, that I will have to verify your findings with additional independent research. I'm sure you understand....

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    kP (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:01am

    Waking Up With Kimye - SNL Highlight - YouTube

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    dfed (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:08am

    I have a big ass and an instagram account. Come at me, Kim. Or are you only threatened by non-hairy asses?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:18am

    Can we just sterilize anyone within '3 hops' of family members or those in relation to a Kardashian already?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    hij (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:19am

    She will wipe the floor with her!

    Wow, now we cannot post a picture of our derrieres without worrying that some celebrity with a big ass bank account will come by and use the full weight of their significant assets to wipe us off the face of the interwebz. It is truly a great time to be alive. This stinks....

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:30am

    Kim doesn't have much longer to have the looks she has. She has already over done her publicity. If I didn't hear that name again, I'd be ok with it.

    It's not like she is mainly known as a clothes horse. Oh, wait.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Chris Brand, 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:31am

    To be fair

    If she was the first person to take a selfie of her butt, surely that cultural contribution is worthy of reward. The real question is how long should the monopoly she gets last for ?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Baron von Robber, 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:40am

    Kim K.: Proving not only does she have one, she is one.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Berenerd (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:40am

    Just so you know...

    I will need to get my hands in on this one....

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    DigitalMigrant (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:44am

    Mr Bumble says

    ...the law is a ass...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Get off my cyber-lawn! (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:52am

    Maybe her ass is that large

    because her head is firmly stuck there?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Violynne (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 11:59am

    One has a big ass, the other is a big ass.

    Seriously. Just how in the hell did these twits ever become celebrities in the first place?!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      John Fenderson (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 12:10pm

      Re:

      "Just how in the hell did these twits ever become celebrities in the first place?!"

      It's nothing more or less than the power of promotion and marketing.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      GEMont (profile), 12 Nov 2014 @ 7:47pm

      Re:

      Or to put that another way.... family money.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Vidiot (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 12:11pm

    Sing along

    [Humming Sir Mix-a-Lot tune]

    "It's my

    big

    butt

    and I cannot lie

    That

    interloper

    must comply."

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Matthew A. Sawtell, 4 Nov 2014 @ 12:23pm

    Goes to Show...

    Goes to show that no matter how inane the case, as long as there are billable hours, there will be lawyers involved.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Michael, 4 Nov 2014 @ 12:29pm

    I normally do not like to attack the reporting on this site, but I really don't understand how this article made it to publishing without the necessary pictures to illustrate the issue.

    Tim, I am disappointed.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 2:48pm

      Re:

      ...without the necessary pictures to illustrate the issue...


      You ain't missing a damn thing!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    dkone, 4 Nov 2014 @ 12:37pm

    Kim's Butt

    I feel like I am really behind on this story.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2014 @ 12:41pm

    She's making a KardASShian of herself.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 2:55pm

    So she is posing with a Kanye lookalike?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    michael, 4 Nov 2014 @ 3:10pm

    "Let's pretend for a moment that for-some-reason-a-celebrity Kim Kardashian reads"

    You greatly overestimate her.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ed (profile), 4 Nov 2014 @ 3:13pm

    Is she going to try to trademark "whore", now, too?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    DigDug, 4 Nov 2014 @ 7:26pm

    You cannot copyright or patent things in nature...

    Opinion stated below, protected by the 1st Ammendment, so fuck off Kim.

    ie - buttocks are buttocks, poses are poses and I am certain that Kim, dumb-ass, Kardashian is not the first to pose that way.

    So she should get off her fat ass and shut the fuck up.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Tim A, 4 Nov 2014 @ 9:01pm

    Not only does she have a big one, she is a big one.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2014 @ 12:55am

    At least, she's honest

    “Kim thinks Jen copies all her poses … she is fuming as she feels her curvy bum is one of her most unique selling points and feels that Jen is just trying to cash in.”


    It's not about the singing, dancing, comedy, intelligence, smart wits, care for the environment or her sympathy with people in oppressed cultures.

    At least, she's honest about it. She deserves a respect-point from me. for that. Tip hat.

    Or is it a lie and is it really about money, the bitch!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 5 Nov 2014 @ 1:10am

    After, ahem, extensive research

    While I do believe you Tim, I feel obliged to do this research myself this time for reasons that shouldn't need to be expressed.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Buster (profile), 5 Nov 2014 @ 1:06pm

    From DVD to Obama to Ass

    First she posts a picture promoting Obama for the next election... 2 yrs from now, keeping in mind he CAN'T run again.
    Now she's trying to file suit claiming someone poses like her...

    I guess someone finally told her she's the laughing stock of the interwebs and now she's trying to keep that crown.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    John85851 (profile), 5 Nov 2014 @ 3:43pm

    Yet another way to get attention

    I don't think this story is real. Don't get me wrong- I think the story exists and it's worth talking about, but I get the feeling that this "case" is more about Kim getting more attention for herself than going through with a lawsuit. If someone could copyright poses, most men's magazines would have been sued a long time ago for putting their centerfolds in the same poses.

    And if you're Kim, it's insanely easy to find a lawyer who will take your case, no matter the legal merits. There are way too many lawyers who would love to be associated with Kim's status and money.

    So, again, I think she's simply jealous that someone is copying her and she's not getting 100% of people's attention. After all, if she doesn't have people's attention, what else is she going to do with her life?

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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