Did Lil Nas X Copy Model's Poses Without Giving Credit? Court Rules: 'Photos Were...'

Pink Villa

20-05-2025

Lil Nas X wins court battle over allegations of stealing a model's poses in his Instagram posts. A federal court has rejected the copyright infringement lawsuit brought against the rapper by freelance model and artist Rodney Woodland.
Woodland had asserted that the artist borrowed photo ideas and posing from his Instagram photo shoots without giving him credit. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in Nas 's favor, bringing an end to the nearly two-year-long legal war.
The suit revolved around a set of promotional photos Nas shared in October 2021 before he released his Montero album. Woodland claimed that a number of the rapper's semi-nude promo shots, including the cover art for the single Industry Baby, copied poses and ideas he had already shared between August 2018 and July 2021. Nevertheless, the court determined the claims to be legally deficient.
Based on court documents, the pictures in dispute on Woodland's page received little attention, somewhere between eight likes and 75. Whereas Lil Nas ' photos were viewed by large numbers of users, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. The court held that Woodland could not demonstrate a reasonable link establishing that the J Christ rapper ever viewed his work.
Judges also concluded that the poses and visual concepts Woodland had used were not original enough to warrant copyright protection. The court pointed out that artistic motifs commonly employed cannot be copyrighted. The court pointed out that while both artists used identical themes, such themes are common features in art and photography and do not fall under the Copyright Act protection.
Rodney Woodland's initial lawsuit against Lil Nas X, filed in June 2022 and subsequently reduced to a single claim for copyright, has been dismissed. The case has now been formally closed, bringing Woodland's legal action against the chart-topping artist to an end without leave to amend.