Rihanna accused of plagiarism ... again

RIHANNA is in legal hot water once again over claims she plagiarised images for her 2010 S&M music video.

The singer, who settled out of court with photographer David LaChapelle in 2011 after he sued her for directly copying his work, is facing legal action from photographer Philipp Paulus for allegedly the same offence, reports The New York Post.

He claims that scenes of the raunchy video are almost identical to his set, production, and photos.

His fashion series, Paperworld, features a woman held to the wall in plastic, taped with large “X” marks, an image similar to one that appears in the video.

German bo, New York based Paulus has filed for an injunction and is asking for damages, after failing to settle out of court with the singer and Universal Music.

The copyright case will be tried in Stuttgart, Germany on April 15 with Paulus’ legal fees being paid for by Foris Legal Financing. If he wins, the video could be banned from YouTube and television.

In 2011, photographer David LaChapelle sued Rihanna and her label Def Jam for $US1 million ($1.1 million), alleging they copied images from a shoot he did for Italian Vogue for the video. They settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Rihanna has also reportedly won a more than $US10 million settlement from accountant Peter Gounis and the firm Berdon LLP after their bad advice caused her to almost go broke.

Read more in The New York Post.