E*Trade Beats Claims It Created Clone of Instagram Influencer

Instagram influencer Gianluca Vacchi can’t prove that E*Trade Financial Corp. stole his social media persona and infringed his copyrights, a federal court in New York ruled in dismissing Vacchi’s lawsuit.

Vacchi couldn’t show that E*Trade’s ads were substantially similar to his videos or that its character was substantially similar to his persona, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said.

Vacchi has more than 13 million Instagram followers and is known as “an extravagant millionaire dancing with beautiful ladies in exotic locations.” Vacchi argued a series of E*Trade ads featuring a character dancing with young women ...