Influencer who sued rival for alleged copycat styling and 'aesthetic' has dropped her lawsuit
An influencer has dropped her lawsuit accusing a rival influencer of posting photos copying her featured products, poses, camera angle, apparel styling, flower tattoo and “neutral, beige and cream aesthetic.” (Photos from the April 2024 lawsuit)
An influencer has dropped her lawsuit accusing a rival influencer of posting photos copying her featured products, poses, camera angle, apparel styling, flower tattoo and "neutral, beige and cream aesthetic.”
Influencer Sydney Nicole Gifford announced her decision to end the suit on TikTok while the suit defendant, Alyssa Sheil, posted a press release calling the suit dismissal a “total victory.”
The April 2024 suit was dismissed without payment by Sheil, according to the press release.
Publications covering the dismissal include Bloomberg Law, Law360, NBC News and People.
Both influencers use their social media posts to promote Amazon products.
Gifford said in the video she could not afford to bring the case to trial, and she wanted to focus on her family.
“She believes wholeheartedly in her claims and invites readers to look at the filings and evidence in the case to reach their own conclusions,” her lawyer, Kirsten Kumar, told Law360.
A lawyer for Sheil, Shahmeer Halepota, told Law360 in a statement that Gifford’s decision to drop the suit “confirms what we have all known all along: She is not the Thomas Edison of ‘a vibe,’ let alone a beige aesthetic.”
The suit dismissal followed a Dec. 10 decision in which U.S. District Judge Robert L. Pitman of the Western District of Texas accepted a magistrate judge’s recommendation to allow suit claims for vicarious copyright infringement, violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and misappropriation of likeness. Pitman, however, tossed Gifford’s claims for tortious interference, unfair competition and unjust enrichment.
“This case appears to be the first of its kind—one in which a social media influencer accuses another influencer of (among other things) copyright infringement based on the similarities between their posts that promote the same products,” wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin M. Howell in his November 2024 recommendation.
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