An acclaimed fashion photographer is suing a Newburgh beauty spa for allegedly appropriating copyrighted photographs of actress Megan Fox and celebrity Kourtney Kardashian.
Donna Trope accused Hudson Valley Beauty Lab & Medi Spa of copyright infringement, in a complaint filed on April 6 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
The spa posted the images on its social media pages to display “high-quality, professionally-produced photographs,” Trope claims, “to assist the viewer in visualizing the results that could be achieved through purchasing and using defendant’s products and services.”
Adam Fanning, director of operations, incorporated Hudson Valley Beauty Lab in 2021. The spa specializes in “full face rejuvenation” and “regenerative medicine,” according to its website, and offers treatments such as injectables, laser resurfacing, microblading.
Trope works from studios in New York and Los Angeles. Her photos have been featured in Vogue, National Geographic and the New York Times. Her clients include Aveda, Maybelline, Revlon, Sephora and Skims.
She has photographed Fox, known for roles in productions such as Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, 2004, and Transformers, 2007, as well as Kardashian, a media personality and socialite.
The Bikini Photo, for instance, poses Fox and Kardashian standing side-by-side in black bikinis with their arms wrapped around one-another. The Cherry Photo has them seated face-to-face in white bikinis with a plate of cherries between them as one drops a cherry on the tongue of the other.
Trope says the photographs were copyrighted in 2021.
In 2024, she discovered the Bikini Photo and Cherry Photo on the spa’s Instagram page, allegedly promoting skincare products. This past March 24, according to the complaint, she discovered the images on the spa’s Facebook page.
Trope’s livelihood depends on receiving compensation for her photographs, the complaint states, and the works are devalued when they are copied and used without her permission.
She was unable to resolve the matter outside of court, the complaint states, and despite notification that the spa did not have permission to use the images, it continued to display them on Facebook.
Trope is asking the court to stop the spa from using the photos, and she is demanding unspecified monetary damages.
Fanning did not reply to a message asking for the spa’s side of the story.
