Perez Hilton Evens Score in Paparazzi Lawsuit

Posted Mar 9th 2007 12:15PM by TMZ Staff

Mario Lavandeira, aka Perez Hilton, won round two in his court battle with a major Hollywood photo agency yesterday, when a judge ruled that the 'Gossip Gangstar' can continue to run his website while the $7.5 million case is being decided.

The paparazzi agency wanted PerezHilton.com shut down pending the result of the lawsuit.

Last month, a judge denied Perezzle's attempt to have the case dismissed.

Hilton, who runs the popular gossip website PerezHilton.com, was sued back in December after the agency claims he ignored warnings to stop using its images without permission. Hilton is known for taking celebrity pictures and making amusingly crude drawings on them.

"The court's ruling is further validation of our client's position in this dispute," Hilton's lawyer, Bryan J. Freedman, tells TMZ, "We continue to believe that Mr. Lavandeira ultimately will prevail on the legal merits at the time of trial in this matter."

Calls to the photo agency were not immediately returned.

Filed under: Celebrity Justice

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(Page 1 of 4) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

1. Poster David Allen Coe/David Duke has been posting vial comments. He attacks anyone for no reason at all. It started when the Ann Coulter story came out. It appears he has issues to work out.

Posted at 12:31PM on Mar 9th 2007 by The Management

2. Perez better be kissing Ms. Paris Hilton's ass right now; the ONLY reason he can even afford a lawyer is because Paris is his $$$ backer. Of course, that is the reason Perez woud never dare snark on his main investor on his blog which admittedly is very disappointing....

However, Paris made a smart business move; if he wasn't on her payroll she'd be skewered on his blog.

Posted at 12:46PM on Mar 9th 2007 by eh

3. Gee, I wonder why TMZ will never mention Perez's dirty photos from that site.....

Posted at 12:47PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Mandy

4. I don't know who this guy is but, damn, he is ugly!!

Posted at 12:48PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Anonymous

5. Perez Hilton plagarizes and steals photos. Why is TMZ even acknowledging that fraud?

Posted at 12:49PM on Mar 9th 2007 by MK

6. So if Perez wins it will send a message that it's okay to steal someone elses work without permission. Can/does a judge really want to make that kind of statement?

Perez is going down. I would be crapping my pants! 7.5 million! OUCH

Posted at 12:55PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Bill

7. Perez is known for stealing from other blogs. TMZ is the idiot for giving this plagarist press. being funny is cool. stealing and plagarizing is not.

Posted at 1:13PM on Mar 9th 2007 by JayTee

8. Perezhilton.com is the WORST form of media ever!!!! I hope he gets whats coming to him!!!! What he says and the drawings he does on the celebrety's pic should be ILLEGAL!!!! I cant believe no one has sued him yet for them....

I LOVE TMZ BUT WHYYYYYYYYYYYY WOULD YOU EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE anything this thing (perez) does? Very disappointed that you guys are even covering this story!!!!

I TRUELY HOPE HE IS SHUT DOWN FOR GOOD!!!

I come from the same country he does, CUBA, and is embarrasing to me to the way he portrays himself and our people.........

AMERICA WE, CUBANS HAVE MORE CLASS THAN WHAT PEREZHILTON PORTRAYS!!!!

Posted at 1:14PM on Mar 9th 2007 by JULIE

9. Lard Lad may have won this round, but he's guilty. I hope X17 shuts that pig down. Paris will have her own legal issues to deal with and may not be able to bail her fat ass lap dog out this time.

Posted at 1:18PM on Mar 9th 2007 by RonnyK

10. #7 MK: why? because perez and tmz are both in bed with paris.

Posted at 1:21PM on Mar 9th 2007 by blah

11. Awwww Perez....

I think my days would be ruined if i didn't have cheap gossip to read during work hours...

Posted at 1:31PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Arlene

12. Perez is a fat pig who never writes anything bad about Paris Hilton and hates on Lindsay cuz Paris hates her. I hope he goes down!!!!!!!! LOSER

Posted at 1:56PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Angela

13.
Well, Well,.... He might be shut down.... what about The National Enquirer, The National Examiner, Sun, Globe, etc... so it's OK if it's print, next to the candy, gum, travel size everything @ the supermarket line I'm waiting forever in???

I would like to see the same aggressive legal battles directed at the sites that Sexual Predator's are on chatting with kid's.

"Dateline", has a new show on Sexual Predator's like what... once a week.
Child goes missing...detective's find out the child was "chatting" with what they thought was just another kid, agrees to meet, never see the child again.
(Thank God they are sometimes found alive).
Family is devastated.

MY QUESTION IS... WHY CAN'T THOSE SITE'S BE SHUT DOWN!!!!!!
SO THAT THESE BASTARD PERVERT'S CAN'T EVEN HAVE THAT OPTION...??????

SAD, REALLY SAD.
LET'S GET OUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT.....GOSSIP???? OR A CHILD????

MY VOTE... PRIORITY...OUR CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 1:57PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Tonya

14. perez is a little bitch. He has the skanky parasite in his pocket so she won't be trashed on the site. Two gutter trash assholes.

Posted at 2:01PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Whatever

15. "Hilton is known for taking celebrity pictures and making amusingly crude drawings on them"

You're kidding, right? Just goes to prove that one man's "amusingly crude" is another man's 7th grade bathroom humor.

Posted at 2:01PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Wanda

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