 In August 2011 , a judge agreed that the " ' pink room scene ' , which shows Rihanna dominating a man in front of pink and white striped walls , was very similar to LaChapelle 's " Striped Face " photograph ; the judge pinpointed a scene where Rihanna is seen against a blue background , wearing pink latex and placing a sweet on her tongue . " Rihanna and LaChapelle settled the case out of court for an undisclosed sum . After the case , LaChapelle said the lawsuit was " not personal , it 's strictly business " , and that " musicians commonly pay to sample music or use someone 's beats and there should be no difference when sampling an artist 's visuals . " In June 2011 , German photographer Philipp Paulus sued Rihanna and her record labels , alleging further copyright violations with regard to a scene in the music video where Rihanna wears an expansive dress and is taped to the wall with a plastic sheet in front of her . According to Paulus , Rihanna and Matsoukas appropriated the image from his photographic series <unk> . 
