Lil Nas X‘s post count drastically decreased to under 200 posts when he archived nearly every upload on his account that didn’t include the color pink. In the mix of hidden images were a set of promotional photos he posted in October 2021 that pictured him partially nude. After seeing the images, a freelance artist and model named Rodney Woodland sued the rapper for copyright infringement, claiming Lil Nas X stole the poses and concepts for the images from photos he posted in the months and years prior. A federal appeals court has now dismissed the case.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California has ruled that the poses in Woodland’s Instagram posts are not protected under copyright law, and therefore Lil Nas X, born Montero Lamar Hill, cannot be sued for copyright infringement. “It is not enough to simply allege that [Lil Nas] is an active user of Instagram and thus had a reasonable possibility of viewing Woodland’s photos,” Judge Kenneth K. Lee said. “There are over a billion users and many more posts on Instagram. The mere fact that Hill uses Instagram and that Woodland’s photos are on Instagram raises no more than a bare possibility that Hill viewed Woodland’s photos.”
According to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone, Woodland’s photos were shared between August 2018 and July 2021 and 12 posts on his account related to the alleged infringement received between eight and 75 likes. Of the eight photos Lil Nas X shared that Woodland believes ripped off his posts, the musician received hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of likes. “Woodland concedes that his works are not widely disseminated,” the document reads. “So he must plead ‘evidence of a ‘chain of events’’ linking Hill’s access to his works.”
The original suit filed in June 2022 alleged copyright infringement, declaratory relief, accounting, and unjust enrichment. It was later amended to only include copyright infringement. Still, the court says Woodland did not sufficiently prove either requirement to pursue an infringement case. “The district court found that: (1) Woodland failed to allege any facts to show a reasonable possibility that Hill viewed Woodland’s photos on Instagram, and (2) Hill’s photos and Woodland’s photos were not substantially similar,” the document reads.
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Lil Nas X’s images were shared as part of the promotional campaign for his debut album Montero, which arrived in September 2021 featuring the singles “Industry Baby,” “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” “That’s What I Want,” and more. Woodland claimed that one particular image, the “Industry Baby,” artwork, copied a series he did of Black men in chains. The court ruled: “The idea in each of the photos is the same — the provocative image of a Black man in chains. But that idea is not protected — indeed, it is a common motif in many pieces of art.”
Woodland’s second amended complaint has been dismissed without leave to amend.
