{"id":491024,"date":"2026-02-19T22:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491024\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T22:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:04:08","slug":"amyl-and-the-sniffers-singer-in-escalating-legal-battle-with-photographer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491024\/","title":{"rendered":"Amyl and the Sniffers singer in escalating legal battle with photographer"},"content":{"rendered":"

What started with champagne, ice cream and humorous glamour shots of Amyl and the Sniffers singer Amy Taylor has escalated into a legal fight over copyright, the US Constitution and an application for a restraining order.<\/p>\n

Ms Taylor’s lawyers are arguing that photographer Jamie Nelson<\/a> violated trademark law, invaded Ms Taylor’s privacy and publicity rights, and misappropriated her likeness.<\/p>\n

‘U should not be doing this’ says Amy Taylor to photographer<\/a><\/p>\n

Frontwoman of Amyl and the Sniffers Amy Taylor has filed a lawsuit against a photographer alleging that photos taken for a magazine photo shoot are being sold without her permission.<\/p>\n

But on Tuesday, Ms Nelson filed an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) motion to dismiss the case, claiming she was protected under the First Amendment to the American Constitution (the right to free speech).<\/p>\n

On Monday, Ms Nelson also filed counterclaims in the US Federal Court, alleging Amyl and the Sniffers and John Angus Stewart of PHC Films, Ms Taylor’s partner, have committed copyright infringement.<\/p>\n

That claim relates to a copy of the Vogue cover shared on Instagram, which initially had Ms Nelson’s blessing, but she later withdrew after Ms Taylor refused to agree to the sale of a fine art series.<\/p>\n

Ms Nelson also filed an application for a Temporary Restraining Order against Ms Taylor.<\/p>\n

Champagne problems<\/p>\n

In May 2025, Ms Nelson took a series of photos at her California home of Ms Taylor, including pictures with glasses of champagne, using a penis-shaped lipstick, wearing one of her trademark tiny bikinis, and playing with an ice cream.<\/p>\n

The photo series ran in the July 2025 edition of Vogue Portugal, with Ms Taylor’s permission, and accompanied by an interview.<\/p>\n

But, in legal documents filed on December 22, Ms Taylor claimed that Ms Nelson did not receive permission to sell the photos or use them to promote her photography business.<\/p>\n

The court documents claim that Ms Taylor expressly stated that the photos should only be published in Vogue.<\/p>\n

Prints from the series ‘Champagne Problems’ are on sale on Ms Nelson’s website from $US1,500 ($2,100) to $US18,000, with links also shared across her social media.<\/p>\n

The ABC understands that one of Ms Taylor’s issues with the sale of the prints was the high price, which was contrary to the band’s inclusive and egalitarian principles.<\/p>\n

Ms Taylor’s lawyers argue that Ms Nelson’s sale of the photos without permission infringes Ms Taylor’s trademark.<\/p>\n

Two artists dominated this year’s ARIAs<\/a><\/p>\n

The ARIAs belonged to two relative underdogs this year. Don’t know who they are? It’s time to pay attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Included in the filing is part of a letter sent from Amyl and the Sniffers’ manager Simone Ubaldi to Ms Nelson, saying that Ms Taylor did not give consent to “sell images of her face, or her body as fine art prints”.<\/p>\n

“If you had been transparent with her in advance of the shoot about your desire\/intentions to sell the photos, she would have said no to the shoot,” the letter said.<\/p>\n

But Ms Nelson said in a statement to the ABC that the practice of offering fine-art prints for sale was “widely accepted in the photography and fine-art industries”.<\/p>\n

“My legal actions today seek recognition of both my copyright ownership and my right as an artist to create, display, and sell my fine-art prints,” she said.<\/p>\n

“As a working photographer, I believe artists should be able to publish, display, and sell their work without feeling pressure to give up their rights.”<\/p>\n

In an email to the ABC, Ms Taylor’s lawyer, Jonathan Pink, said they had made every effort to seek an amicable resolution with Ms Nelson.<\/p>\n

“She has consistently sought to needlessly escalate this fight,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We are confident in our position on the facts and the law; the wasting of judicial resources by a misguided defendant will do nothing to change this.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What started with champagne, ice cream and humorous glamour shots of Amyl and the Sniffers singer Amy Taylor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[164604,109597,64,63,42755,134,21180,248041,248043,248044,248042],"class_list":{"0":"post-491024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-amy-taylor","9":"tag-amyl-and-the-sniffers","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-copyright","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-first-amendment","15":"tag-jamie-nelson","16":"tag-photo-shoot","17":"tag-us-constitution","18":"tag-vogue-portugal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}