Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel is being used for allegedly misleading two sisters into modeling for him.
Back in 2011, Elizabeth and Sarah Turner met Spiegel when he was still a student at Stanford University. At the time, Spiegel was working on a project for school called "Picaboo," the early precursor for Snapchat.
Spiegel first met Elizabeth and convinced her to shoot promotional pictures for Picaboo. He met Sarah when Elizabeth got her to join in the shoot, which was done at the Santa Monica Pier, the beach, and at Spiegel's home on Toyopa Drive.
Fast forward to 2014, Snapchat is a big hit and the Turner sisters are the "Faces of Snapchat." Unfortunately, that's not as flattering as it sounds because of the app's reputation.
Because of this, the sisters are upset that their images are being marred by Snapchat's "tawdry" nature.
There's also the fact that they were unpaid.
To Spiegel's defense, the Turners signed model release forms three days after the shoot saying they are waiving rights to their photos and understand that their work with him does not come with financial or any kind of remuneration.
To the Turners' defense, the agreement was strictly for the Picaboo app for iPhone.
Since Picaboo has evolved to become Snapchat, and the app has also been made available for Android, the sisters are arguing that Spiegel breached their agreement so they should receive compensation.
The Turners' lawsuit also claims that their photos have been manipulated in such a way that casual observers looking at them will think that "Elizabeth was pulling off Sarah's bathing suit top and they were nude on the beach."
"The photographs and personae of Elizabeth and Sarah used by Defendants to promote the Snapchat App for iPhone were tainted with application's tawdryreputation, and photographs of Elizabeth and Sarah began appearing prominently in Google searches for offensive phrases such as 'snapchat sluts,'" according to documents filed with the Central District Court of Los Angeles in California.
Essentially, Spiegel is being sued for violation of statutory rights of publicity and common law rights of publicity. Robert Murphy, Snapchat CTO, is also named as a defendant in the suit. A trial date has not been set.
Spiegel also just recently settled a dispute with Reggie Brown on claims Snapchat was his idea. After 18 months of battling it out in court, Spiegel and Brown agreed on an out-of-court settlement. The amount was unspecified but Snapchat also sent out a press release recognizing Brown's contribution to the company and his efforts at helping it get off the ground.
