According to court documents obtained by Billboard, paparazzo Barbera has filed a lawsuit against the 29-year-old singer for posting a picture he took of her without permission or attribution.

Cyrus posted a photo on social media of herself waving to onlookers while exiting a building, allegedly taken by Barbera in 2020. It did not credit the photographer in its caption, and the pop star reportedly did not ask Barbera for the right to use it.

Music Times reports that copyright law attributes a photo's copyright to the person who took the photo. The subject of the photo does not receive automatic rights to use it, even if it was taken without the subject's permission.

As well as arguing that the image was displayed without attribution or permission, Barbera's lawsuit noted that the photographer could no longer profit from the photo through licensing.

Filing the suit in a Los Angeles Federal Court, Barbera requested actual and statutory damages for the infringement, which total $150,000 (£128,200) per infringed work.

Barbera served Dua Lipa with a copyright lawsuit for a similar infringement earlier this year, and has previously sued Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, and Justin Bieber with the same claim.