Lil Nas X Beats Copyright Lawsuit Claiming He Stole Instagram Poses – Billboard

An Instagram model claimed Lil Nas illegally copied his semi-nude poses, but a federal appeals court says that’s not exactly how copyright law works. Lil Nas X at the 36th Annual GLAAD Media Awards held at The Beverly Hilton on March 27, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Gilbert Flores Lil Nas X can’t be sued by an Instagram user who claimed the superstar stole his distinctive “poses” and used them in his own posts, federal appeals court says – ruling that the dispute images “share few similarities” and Lil Nas likely never saw them anyway. Rodney Woodland, a freelance artist and model, claimed in his 2022 lawsuit that the “Old Town Road” rapper (Montero Lamar Hill) had illegally replicated several provocative photos in which Woodland struck elaborate poses while partially nude. But in a ruling Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit says that the dueling sets of Instagram posts share only a few scattered similarities that didn’t legally add up to copyright infringement. Trending on Billboard “Hill’s photograph shares almost nothing in common with Woodland’s,” Judge Kenneth K. Lee writes, analyzing two of the images. “The photos both depict a Black man folded in on himself
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