YouTube Star Michelle Phan Fights Back Against Multimillion-Dollar Lawsuit

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Michelle Phan goes outside of Sephora to see her fans waiting in line around the corner at Fashion's Night Out at Sephora on September 8, 2011 in New York City.

Image: Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Sephora

By Karissa Bell2014-07-25 00:47:27 UTC

YouTube celeb Michelle Phan is fighting back against a copyright infringement suit that alleges she used songs without permission on her lucrative, home-grown YouTube channel.

The video blogger, who rose to fame for her wildly popular makeup tutorial videos, is being sued for copyright infringement by Ultra Records, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Los Angeles last week.

See also: Michelle Phan: Behind the Makeup of YouTube's Fairy Godmother

The label alleges Phan— who is known for using songs from popular dance DJ's in her videos— used their songs without a license, even after repeated warnings.

Ultra plans to seek up to $150,000 in damages per infringement, according to the lawsuit, which currently names 45 instances of infringement but says those numbers are only "preliminary" and that "the full extent of Phan's infringement has not yet been determined." (That currently puts the total alleged damages at nearly $7 million, and that number could climb should Ultra name more instances of infringement.)

Though Phan herself has remained quiet about the charges, representatives for the YouTube star told Mashable in a statement that she did have permission from Ultra to use the songs in question and that Phan and her legal team is planning on bringing their own suit against the label.

Ultra agreed to allow Michelle to use the music and Michelle intends to fight this lawsuit and bring her own claims against Ultra.

Michelle's intention has always been to promote other artists, creating a platform for their work to be showcased to an international audience. Kaskade, whose music has been featured in Michelle's videos, has publicly defended Michelle against Ultra's claims and acknowledges the success he's gained from her support.

Kaskade, whose songs are named several times in the suit, has repeatedly defended Phan on Twitter, voicing his disapproval of Ultra's actions and copyright law.

Phan rose to fame for her makeup tutorial videos that went viral on YouTube. Her success on YouTube — she's amassed more than 6.7 million subscribers — later led to endorsement deals, which made the video blogger as much as $5 million in 2012, according to previous reports. That level of notoriety and income, if it's true that she didn't get permission, likely raised red flags for the record company whose music she used.

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Topics: Entertainment, michelle phan, Video, World, YouTube