Influencers accusing their competitors of copying content is nothing new – snide insinuations and accusations are practically mandatory in the world of social media – but taking it all the way to court is not something that we usually see. This is set to change with the filing of a lawsuit in Texas, where Tok Tok influencer Sydney Nicole Gifford has accused rival Alyssa Sheil of copying her Instagram, Tik Tok and Amazon store front content.

According to the complaint, Sheil copied the “neutral, beige and cream aesthetics” and “featured the same or substantially similar Amazon products promoted”. She also claims that her text was mimicked.

As per documents filed in a Texas court, the two women met back in 2022 and collaborated on a photoshoot but things turned sour when Sheil blocked Gifford and began replicating her content.

Over 30 photo posts have been listed as featuring ‘identical styling, tone, camera angle and/or text.’

Prior to filing the lawsuit, Gifford’s attorneys had sent cease and desist letters to Sheil and had also sent requests to the social media companies to have the alleged offending material removed.

If successful, the lawsuit could have serious ramifications for the influencer industry, opening the floodgates to lawsuits and erecting barriers for influencers in the creation of new content. This could set a worrying precedent where powerful influencers use IP rights to lay claim to owning color schemes or camera angles.

However, Gifford’s claims are weak, at best, at least from an intellectual property perspective. There is no IP protection for a ‘vibe’ and copyright protection in photographs does not extend to the idea of a photograph. The images may be remarkably similar, but this is because they are of the same products. Had Sheil used Gifford’s own photograph, there would be grounds for an infringement claim but as she has taken a separate photograph herself, copyright protection is unlikely to apply. A court is similarly unlikely to find the ‘neutral, beige and cream aesthetic’ is something that can be protected. A quick instagram search reveals over 2 million hits for the hashtag #beigeasthetic suggesting it’s perhaps not as unique as Gifford would like to believe.