Celebrity Gossip Online
Blogs That Report Celebrity News are Popular But Risk Lawsuits
Everyone wants to read celebrity gossip and many bloggers want to write it. But, keeping a celebrity blog can expose the blogger to costly libel and copyright lawsuits.
Celebrity gossip blogs have steadily grown in popularity as evidenced by their exploding numbers. There are now thousands of gossip blogs. Several occupy the top 100 websites rank positions, according to Alexa.
The explosion of celeb gossip sites and the need for constant celebrity gossip updates has led to many blog networks hiring gossip bloggers who are ill qualified to report gossip. Without the proper training and understanding of libel laws and copyrights, many celebrity gossip sites are left wide open to lawsuits.
Libel and Copyright Issues
Many bloggers who get started in gossip blogs do so to comment on news that's reported on other blogs. Often, this information is wrong and can be damaging to the reputations of the celebrities. That's when lawsuits get filed against bloggers. Because there are so many gossip blogs now, it would be prohibitively expensive to sue every time a falsehood was reported. Most of the lawsuits filed against celebrity blogs are concentrated on the most popular celeb blogs.
PerezHitlon.com is one of the top blogs and has a reputation for having the latest Hollywood gossip. That popularity has, however, made him the target of several lawsuits. The owner of that blog, Mario Lavandeira, has been sued several times for libel and copyright infringement. In turn, Lavandeira recently filed suit against another celebrity blogger, Jonathan Lewandowski, for libel and slander.
Using Celebrity Photographs
Many celebrity blogs get into legal trouble over the usage of celebrity pictures. Photography agencies employ paparazzi photographers to capture the pictures that make people look at celebrity magazines and blogs. But, they pay high prices for the best of those pictures. Celebrity bloggers who take capture the pictures from photo agency websites and use them on their own blogs may be liable for the loss of revenues.
However, there are some instances when a photograph can be used without permission from the copyright holder. The fair use doctrine spells out these circumstances, but whether a blog or other website actually fits the criteria often requires legal interpretation.
Despite the legal dangers, celebrity gossip is still an enormous, and growing, industry. There are so many gossip blogs that a few sites have started ranking 100 or more blogs by their popularity, readership or the number of celebrity gossip updates they average per week. To avoid costly lawsuits, any blogger wanting to get into the celeb gossip game should familiarize themselves with libel laws and fair usage rules.
