Can a vibe be copyrighted?

An ongoing influencer lawsuit could influence the influencer industry.

Amazon content creator Sydney Nicole Gifford, 24, claims that another Amazon influencer, Alyssa Sheil, 21, copied her vibe and content. Last month, a judge ruled the case can move forward.

• Per the lawsuit: Gifford (~1 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube) claims Sheil (138k followers) copied her “neutral, beige and cream aesthetic,” used the same fonts and camera angles as her, decorated her apartment like her, got a similar haircut, and featured similar Amazon products on her social media pages (scroll through the complaint here for side-by-side comparisons).
• But Sheil says this misrepresents how Amazon influencers operate. Many featured products in content are pushed to influencers by Amazon itself – meaning overlap tends to happen, per Sheil. The e-commerce giant also shares additional information with content creators, including trending products, keywords, and searches.

Vibe check: Gifford is seeking a) up to $150,000 in damages for "mental anguish” and lost income and b) to have Sheil’s content taken down – though it appears Sheil has already deleted her TikTok account.

📸 Big picture: Laws around sponsored content and copyright exist, but creators regularly bend or even ignore rules. If disputes arise, they’re typically handled at the platform/service provider level (Insta, Tiktok, etc.) through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice- and- takedown regime. But if Gifford’s legal argument is successful – a long shot per experts – it could mean any influencer making content in an established genre could become embroiled in costly lawsuits.