Lakers star catching heat over Facebook photo

LeBron James

A photographer is crying foul over Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James’s use of a photograph he shot at a game against the Miami Heat, which the basketball star later posted on his Facebook page.

As reported by The Blast news site, photographer Steven Mitchell is suing Lebron James and his companies Uninterrupted Digital Ventures and LRMR Ventures LLC over copyright infringement.

Mr. Mitchell, a professional photographer, told the Blast he is in the business of licensing his photographs for money and did not collect a dime from the photo he snapped of Mr. James, a photo that collected more than 1,000 likes and was shared nearly 100 times.

Now he wants $150,000 per infringement, according to the suit, accessed by the site, which pointed out that several celebrities — actor Liam Hemsworth and model Bella Hadid — are facing similar lawsuits over posting images of themselves taken by a photographer without permission.