Seltzer Company Ripped Off DudeWithSign Instagram Pic, Suit Says

Social media content company FJerry LLC sued a New Jersey seltzer company, accusing it of the unauthorized use of a hallmark image from the DudeWithSigns’ Instagram account to promote its product.

Neatly Spiked LLC used a picture from the DudeWithSigns account that superimposed a different message—"WE NEED MORE NEATLY"—on the sign in its own Instagram post, according to FJerry’s complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. That both infringed FJerry’s copyright of the image and violated the publicity rights of the “dude with a sign,” whose real name is Seth Phillips, it ...