Concerned parents might tell you nudity on the internet hurts everyone, but ordinarily, scandalous photos don’t have negative repercussions for anyone save the girl involved and possibly, her boyfriend and/or family. There is one notable exception though. There are a lot of women in the world. Some of them happen to resemble celebrities, and when these ladies bare all, it can cause serious problems for their doppelgangers.

That’s what happened recently to pop star Taylor Swift, and now her lawyers are lashing out, not at the lookalike in the photo but at the website that ran the picture and cited the singer’s name. According to TMZ, the outlet in question is Celebrity Jihad, and a few months back, the company used the headline “Taylor Swift Topless Private Pic Leaked?” to show a partially nude picture of a woman with a striking resemblance to Swift. The photo, I’m fairly sure a fake, was passably close enough to the real thing that it spread through the internet. The twenty-one year old’s lawyers asked the publication to take it down, but they refused.

Now Celebrity Jihad has been sent a cease and desist order. If the offending picture isn’t removed, they’ll be sued for trademark infringement. As of press time, the outlet is still considering its options and may or may not fight it out in court.

Admittedly, this whole thing might be a bit funny, but it could end up having serious ramifications for adult websites. The internet is filled with fake celebrity pornography, and if a judge rules that using a celebrity’s name, even in the context of asking whether a picture is real, violates her trademark, plenty of sites may need to do some spring cleaning.

What do you think? Should a website be allowed to publish naked pictures of celebrity lookalikes using the celebrity’s name? Sound off by voting in the poll below…



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