A legal spat between two social media rivals could “change the influencer game as we know it,” legal experts told The Post.
A Texas woman with more than 500,000 followers has filed what could be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit accusing another content creator of duplicating her TikTok, Instagram and Amazon Storefront posts.
Sydney Nicole Gifford, 24, claimed Alyssa Sheil, 21, copied her “neutral, beige and cream aesthetics” and “featured the same or substantially [similar ] Amazon products promoted” by Gifford, as well as mimicking her text, according to Texas court records.
The two women met in Austin in December 2022, “with the intent of supporting one another’s business,” Gifford said in court papers.
But following a joint photoshoot in January 2023, Sheil blocked Gifford online and began to replicate her content.
“At least” 30 photo posts across Sheil’s platforms featured “identical styling, tone, camera angle and/or text,” to Gifford’s, along with “nearly identical videos,” according to court papers.
One of the alleged copycat posts included Gifford’s visit to an Austin, Texas, shop, The Tox, in October. Another, in December, seemingly replicated Gifford’s post featuring her “best Amazon home purchases of 2023.”
Two days after Gifford’s Amazon home products plug, Sheil posted a nearly identical slideshow, which was subsequently removed by TikTok, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Gifford’s legal team fired off cease and desist letters warning Sheil to stop, court papers said.
Gifford also successfully lobbied social platforms to remove other allegedly infringing posts.
with unspecified damages. Texas District Court
Gifford finally sued in April after Sheil continued to mimic her posts.
It successful, the lawsuit “could change the influencer game as we know it,” said Tiffany Ferris, partner and chair of the Trademark and Advertising Group at international lawfirm Haynes and Boone.
A victory would mean a flood of similar suits which would make it “remarkably difficult for influencers to create their content,” she noted.
Ferris, who is not associated with the case, said disputes between influencers are oftentimes “bandied about” but don’t end up in court.
Gifford wants a judge to bar Sheil from copying her content, along with unspecified damages.
“Ms. Gifford’s goal is to protect her work from being infringed upon by an imitator. This case is significant because it asks the court to apply longstanding principles of the law to modern day challenges surrounding online content creation,” said her lawyer, Kirsten Kumar.
Sheil “vigorously denies all the allegations,” her attorney Jason McManis said.
“These are two influencers who live in the same area being asked to promote many of the same products and storefronts. When a store asks multiple influencers to promote it, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that some posts may look the same. That doesn’t make it infringement or misappropriation,” McManis said.
He added: “Things like ‘look,’ ‘feel,’ or ‘vibe,’ are not protectable and we look forward to vindicating Ms. Sheil from these false accusations.”