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Legal
Contra girl sues over photo use
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 16 July 2010
The model whose picture appeared on the cover of Vampire Weekend’s ‘Contra’ album is suing the band, claiming she never gave permission for the photo to be used.
The picture actually dates from 1983, and was seemingly supplied to the band by photographer Tod Brody. According to TMZ, the girl, Kirsten Kennis, says Brody provided a release form to the band and their label seemingly giving her approval to use the picture, but she says her signature on said form had been forged.
She is suing both Brody and the band for a neat $2 million. Her claim against the band is based on the argument they should have confirmed the authenticity of the signature on the release form before using the photo for their record.
I’m not sure under what laws Kennis is suing, given the copyright in the photo would be owned by Brody and, assuming she voluntarily took part in a photo shoot as a model, there probably isn’t a case under privacy legislation. But I guess we’ll find out more if and when the case reaches court.
Neither Brody nor the band have responded to the lawsuit.
