Green Day are being sued by an artist after they used one of his images, allegedly without asking permission.

Artist Dereck Seltzer claims his picture of a startled face has been used on the Green Day website, a music video and on projections at the band's shows.

According to TMZ.com, Seltzer had previously copyrighted the image and claims that Green Day never asked his permission to use it.

He has now filed a lawsuit at Los Angeles federal court.

Green Day's lawyer, Don Passman, told TMZ, "Green Day received Mr. Seltzer's image from a responsible company and was unaware that there could be any copyright or other issues."

(by Scott Colothan)