Perez Hilton Being Sued

Perez Hilton is the topic of gossip headlines all over the internet, not because of his witty gossip tidbits, but because he used celebrity photos without permission. Los Angeles based celebrity photo agency X17, Inc. is suing Perez Hilton for $7.6 million dollars for illegally using their photos on his gossip blog PerezHilton.com. Mario Lavandeira, the blogger known as Perez Hilton, typically uses celebrity photos to accompany posts, and doodles on them for laughs. X17 doesn't find this amusing and awaits their day in court to get the last laugh.

Lavandeira insists he's done nothing wrong, and will fight for his rights and the rights of all bloggers. The suit mentions that 51 pictures in all were used on the popular blog, without permission or credit given.

X17, Inc. is not alone, seven other agencies have written Lavandeira and asked that he quit using their celebrity photos, those other agencies have not filed suit, though. X17 says they have had trouble with other bloggers using their photos without permission, but the Perez Hilton site was the biggest of the gossip blogs. Making an example out of PerezHilton.com will likely stop others from doing the same.