Rodney Woodland, a freelance artist and model, sued Montero Lamar Hill, also known as Lil Nas X, for copyright infringement. Woodland claimed that Hill posted photos on his Instagram page that were too similar to photos Woodland had posted on his own Instagram account. Woodland’s photos, posted between August 2018 and July 2021, received between eight and seventy-five “likes.” Hill’s allegedly infringing photos were posted between March and October 2021 and received hundreds of thousands to millions of “likes.”

The United States District Court for the Central District of California dismissed Woodland’s claims, including copyright infringement, declaratory relief, accounting, and unjust enrichment. The court found that Woodland failed to allege facts showing a reasonable possibility that Hill viewed Woodland’s photos on Instagram and that Hill’s photos were not substantially similar to Woodland’s. Woodland was granted leave to amend his complaint but ultimately failed to state a claim for copyright infringement.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reviewed the case and affirmed the district court’s dismissal. The Ninth Circuit held that Woodland did not plausibly allege that Hill had “access” to Woodland’s photos, as the mere fact that Woodland posted his photos on Instagram was insufficient to show that Hill had viewed them. Additionally, the court found that Woodland failed to show that Hill unlawfully appropriated his photos. The court explained that the Copyright Act protects only the “selection” and “arrangement” of individual elements in a photo, and the photos in question were not substantially similar in their selection and arrangement of elements. Thus, Woodland’s copyright infringement claim was dismissed. View “Woodland v. Hill” on Justia Law