Two Texas-based content creators are waging a legal battle over whether one copied the other’s social media “aesthetic.” Attorneys for Alyssa Sheil on Monday asked the U.S.
District Court for the Western District of Texas to dismiss several claims brought forth by Sydney Nicole Gifford, who in April accused Sheil of copyright infringement for posting social media content that mimicked her “neutral, beige, and cream aesthetic.” “Sheil has never infringed on any work of Gifford’s, because Sheil’s work is independently developed, does not use anything belonging to Gifford, and is not based on anything posted by Gifford,” the court document states. Gifford has a following of more than 790,000 across Instagram and TikTok.
Sheil has more than 380,000 combined followers on those platforms. Both creators primarily post content sharing their favorite home and fashion finds. Gifford is seeking financial compensation, in an amount to be decided at trial, for damages including lost profits and mental anguish.
In the court document filed Monday, Sheil denied allegations of copyright infringement made in Gifford’s lawsuit. In addition to dismissing some claims now, Sheil is also seeking to have her attorneys’ fees covered. Her attorney told NBC News that they “will pursue dismissal of any remaining claims at a different procedural stage.
” Over the years, creators have frequently accused one another of stealing ideas , often citing videos that appear to have copied someone else’s concept or script verbatim. Such spats have largely panned out on social media, where creators ask their followers to weigh in on who is in the wrong. Users often debate over the difference between getting inspiration from someone and copying someone outright.
While internet users have often taken sides in the feuds, many have also argued that nothing is truly original online. Gifford’s case, if it goes to trial, could set a legal precedent for how copyright protections work in the content creation industry. In her lawsuit, Gifford alleges that Sheil had blocked her on Instagram and TikTok in January 2023 after the two met for a photo shoot collaboration.
Around that time, according to the lawsuit, Sheil began to publish posts that featured the same (or similar) Amazon products Gifford promoted, using styling and captions that also appeared to replicate Gifford’s. In her lawsuit, Gifford listed multiple examples of Sheil’s posts that she argues are similar to her own and shared screenshots of the examples as exhibits. One example included a photo of Sheil “going to the very same institution featuring nearly identical footage of the doormat at the store’s entrance branded ‘ The Tox ,’” the document states.
Sheil’s attorneys said in their court filing Monday that she blocked Gifford after their photo shoot last year because Gifford and a friend had allegedly behaved “rudely” and “excluded her.” Sheil’s content, the court document states, leaned into the “ clean girl” aesthetic — which refers to a style of makeup and fashion that strives for a polished yet minimalistic look that emphasizes neutral tones. “Neutral colors have been in for some time,” Sheil’s attorneys argue, citing Chip and Joanna Gaines’ HGTV programs and celebrities such as Hailey Bieber, who tap into the same aesthetic.
“Unsurprisingly, Gifford’s complaint conspicuously avoids the phrase ‘clean girl’ aesthetic. Anyone who googled that phrase or spent a few hours on TikTok or Instagram would quickly realize that it destroys Gifford’s case; her ‘look’ is not original,” according to the court document. “For that matter, on that front, neither is Sheil’s.
” Both “do much of their work through their partnerships with Amazon Associates,” the commerce giant’s affiliate marketing program, according to Sheil’s suit. Gifford’s lawsuit also noted that the creators use Amazon Storefront, which creators often use as a one-stop shop for their followers to browse their product recommendations. Gifford stated in her lawsuit that Sheil’s customizable Amazon Storefront page featured an “Idea List” that included many of the same products that appeared on Gifford’s own list, ranging from clothing items to coffee tables to cookware sets.
Sheil’s attorneys argue that “brands often contact similar influencers and content creators not because they are unique, but because they are similar.” “For that reason, it is no surprise that the same businesses who contacted Gifford—who has a predominantly white audience—would also want to work with Sheil, as she is a successful Black- Latina beauty influencer,” the court document states. “The fact that the two women published similar products around the same time is explained by the fact that these products were being pushed to both women.
” In her lawsuit, attorneys for Gifford state that “on or around” Jan. 30, she “submitted copyright infringement reports, reporting fifteen posts to TikTok, eighteen posts to Instagram, and fourteen posts to Amazon. Each platform promptly removed the infringing content.
” She also flagged an additional 13 posts to TikTok in February, according to the suit. She claims that Sheil “reposted certain photo works, after initial posts were removed, that infringe upon Plaintiffs’ Registered Works.” Gifford subsequently submitted a lawsuit.
In a statement to NBC News issued via her manager on Tuesday, Gifford said Sheil’s “attempt to reduce this to a simple matter of two influencers with ‘clean girl’ aesthetics is a mere distraction from the reality of her continual copying of my business.” Gifford said she is unsure how Sheil’s attorneys can make claims about the demographic makeup of her audience, as she doesn’t have access to the information herself. She added that aside from one video, the posts cited in her lawsuit were not part of any brand deal through Amazon or otherwise.
Sheil’s court filing cites reality TV star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian, who once wrote in a post on X , “People only rain on your parade because they’re jealous of your sun and tired of their shade.” “This case stems from just that — jealousy,” Sheil’s attorneys wrote, claiming that Sheil “was younger and more successful on certain social media platforms that Gifford had not yet maximized.” Gifford also disputed this, calling Sheil’s claims of having been more successful online “not only false, but irrelevant.
” “Ms. Sheil spent most of the time at both meet ups asking myself and another influencer how to grow her TikTok,” she said in her statement to NBC News. “The jealousy is on Ms.
Sheil’s side only, as you can see by the extent to which she went to replicate my business.”.
