It’s happened yet again: another copyright infringement lawsuit involving a celebrity posting an image of themselves without permission from the photographer. This time it’s Miley Cyrus who is in the hot seat, for sharing an image of herself on Instagram without licensing it.

On Friday, September 9, paparazzi photographer Robert Barbera filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Cyrus, claiming she reposted his 2020 photo that showed her waving to onlookers as she exited a building in February of that year. The image was shared her 180 million followers without permission from Barbera, who had registered the photo with the U.S. Copyright Office on April 11 but didn’t notice Cyrus had posted it until a month later. According to the site Law360, Barbera claimed the photo “increased traffic” to Cyrus’ account and caused her an increase in the revenues generated through the sale of her music or associated business partnership.”

[Read: 6 Copyright Cases Photographers Should Know About]

This past June, Barbera also filed a lawsuit against Dua Lipa. “Without permission or authorization from Plaintiff, Defendant volitionally selected, copied, stored and displayed each of Plaintiff’s copyright protected Photographs,” the complaint, written by attorney Craig Sanders, read when it was filed. The image was then deleted from Lipa’s Instagram account.

The news of this most recent case doesn’t surprise as nearly as much as the frequency with which these lawsuits keep getting filed. One question that springs to mind: Why do celebrities keep posting images of themselves without getting permission from the photographer? Barbera previously sued Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande in 2019 for sharing his images on their social media accounts without his prior permission. (The Grande cases were dismissed while Bieber reportedly settled out of court.)

So, why can’t celebrities post images of themselves taken by a photographer? The point we often try to drive home when reporting on these cases is that U.S. copyright law is clear—photographers own the copyrights to the images that they take, and using those photos without a license constitutes infringement. Simply appearing in an image does not give a celebrity co-ownership of it, nor does it give them a right to repost it for free or without permission.

Take, for example, a lawsuit for copyright infringement filed by paparazzi against supermodel Gigi Hadid in 2019 that was ultimately dismissed. At the time, our legal writer, copyright lawyer Aaron Stark, wrote that, “Whatever feelings you may have about the paparazzi taking unconsented pictures of celebrities in public spaces [as opposed to inside their homes, for example], it is settled law that they have the right to do so, and own the copyright to whatever images they take. Thus, Hadid’s publication of the image on her Instagram constitutes infringement.”

[Read: Copyright for Photography Businesses: 10 Important Questions Answered]

Stark also pointed out that, in that case, Hadid had argued, among other defenses, that because she had turned to the camera and smiled, she was a co-author of the image, or at least held an implied license because the image depicted her likeness. “Co-authorship occurs when more than one party works together to create a copyrighted work,” wrote Stark. “The idea that a model can be a co-author of a photographer’s work is a frightening proposition and would greatly change how photographers produce images in all contexts. But in order to be a co-author of a work, you must meet the requirements of an author: namely, you must have inserted more than a minimum of creativity into the work. Simply smiling does not cross this threshold of creativity.”

And in the U.S., copyright is given to the creator unless there’s a legal agreement in place that gives the rights to the creator’s employer or agency. After being involved in a lawsuit similar to Hadid’s, Kim Kardashian hired her own personal photographer to avoid future legal dispute.

Each of these cases have come with its own details and nuances. If you are a photographer dealing with a copyright infringement lawsuit in general, make sure your images are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. If they are, you can seek between $750 and $30,000 for copyright infringement. If you can prove “willful” (or knowing) infringement, that amount goes up to $150,000. If you have registered your image with the U.S. Copyright Office before the infringement or within three months of the date it was first published, you may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney’s fees. As always, seek out an attorney to help you navigate the details.