Jared Leto Loses Lawsuit

Jared Leto is having a rough couple of months. On top of being mostly hated for his Joker portrayal in the recent flop Suicide Squad movie, Leto just lost the lawsuit he brought against TMZ for publishing footage of him dissing Taylor Swift.

The videographer, Naeem Munaf, filmed Leto listening to Swift’s 1989 album (for “inspiration”, according to TMZ) and criticizing the album and Swift in general. Munaf, then using a pseudonym, sold the footage to TMZ for $2000 (that’s over Php96,000)

It’s a pretty good little video. At the end of it, Leto says of Swift, “Fuck her. I don’t give a fuck about her.” This is what got him in hot water. But possibly more embarrassing—or endearing, depending on your point of view—are the clips of Leto enjoying Swift’s music (“I like this verse, actually”) and joyously mishearing the lyrics (“Starbucks lovers?!”).

However, recently a judge concludes the actor never owned the video. The videographer did and transferred rights to the gossip site,TMZ.

When TMZ published the video in December, it made a splash, and Leto quickly apologized. But then Leto's company filed a lawsuit against TMZ to, in his words, "encourage more people to stop trafficking in stolen goods."

Specifically, Leto asserted a copyright infringement claim and alleged that he had hired a videographer, who had provided TMZ with the footage. But the videographer – who later revealed to be Naeem Munaf -- had second thoughts, and the gossip site was warned against publishing. TMZ went ahead anyway.

In reaction to the lawsuit, TMZ argued that Leto never really owned the video and that it had been granted a license by Munaf to use it.

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