Selena Gomez is suing the makers of the mobile game Clothes Forever — Styling Game for up to $10 million, claiming that they stole her image and likeness.
Clothes Forever, which is available on the Apple App Store, allows players to work as a virtual stylist, and its description touts the opportunity to “interact with the most beautiful models and celebrities; the likes of Kardashian, Gigi, Beyoncé, Taylor, and more will be dropping by and asking for YOUR fashion advise!”
The lawsuit states that the game features an image that “blatantly rips off a popular image of Gomez” that appeared on the cover of Flare, and that the use of the singer’s likeness “creates the false impression that she has endorsed the Game or has something to do with the Game, and undoubtedly is intended to attract consumers to make use of the Game.” Gomez is seeking damages of up to $10 million, with an actual amount to be determined at trial.
“Selena Gomez is a style icon,” Alex Weingarten, an attorney for the singer, said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “This is an egregious violation of Selena’s rights, which we will litigate vigorously to vindicate.”
The lawsuit names multiple defendants allegedly responsible for the game, including Forgame Holdings and MutantBox Interactive Ltd.; neither company immediately returned Rolling Stone‘s request for comment. Attempts to reach other defendants, several of which are based in China, were unsuccessful.
Gomez’s suit describes Clothes Forever as a “bug-riddled mobile game” that is “currently rated a measly 3.5 stars out of 5 by users on the Apple App Store website.” It also highlights the game’s reliance on “the unsavory practice of luring its users to make in-game purchases in amounts as much as $99.99 to fund imaginary spending in the Game and unlock features.” Along with Gomez, the suit claims Clothes Forever uses the images and likenesses of Rihanna, Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Taylor Swift, and Kim Kardashian.
The suit claims the makers of the game “neither sought nor secured permission from Gomez to use her image or likeness,” and that they “conspired with each other to wrongfully use Gomez’s publicity rights without authorization for their own commercial purposes in order to gain at her expense.” It also claims that Gomez has invested time and resources into possible entries into the “mobile game space with respect to fashion in particular,” and that the use of her likeness in Clothes Forever has negatively affected her ability to move forward with such a project.
