Advertisement
Lil Nas X has won his court battle against allegations that he stole poses from freelance model and artist Rodney Woodland for his Instagram posts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed Woodland’s copyright infringement lawsuit, ending nearly two years of legal conflict.
Woodland claimed that Lil Nas X copied posing ideas from his Instagram photo shoots without credit, specifically targeting semi-nude promotional photos Nas shared in October 2021 before releasing his Montero album. This included the cover art for the single Industry Baby. However, the court found Woodland’s claims legally insufficient.
The court noted that Woodland’s disputed photos had very limited exposure, with only 8 to 75 likes, while Lil Nas X’s posts reached hundreds of thousands to millions of views. Woodland couldn’t prove that Nas had actually seen his work.
Additionally, judges ruled that the poses and visual ideas Woodland used weren’t original enough for copyright protection, as common artistic themes can’t be copyrighted. Although both artists used similar motifs, such elements are considered standard in art and photography and don’t qualify for legal protection under copyright law.
Woodland’s lawsuit, initially filed in June 2022 and later narrowed to a single copyright claim, was dismissed without leave to amend, formally closing the case in favor of Lil Nas X.