The rapper Cam’ron is facing a copyright lawsuit over allegations that he used a 2003 image of himself on t-shirts, jewelry and a slew of other merchandise sold by his Dipset Couture – all without any kind of license from the original photographer.
In a complaint filed Tuesday (April 11) in New Jersey federal court, photographer Djamilla Cochran claimed the “Hey Ma” rapper (real name Cameron Giles) splashed her image — a shot of Cam wearing a fuzzy pink coat and hat while holding a matching flip phone — across a wide range of Dipset products.
She says he also repeatedly posted the image to Instagram to promote those products, which also included shower curtains, pillows, swimsuits, socks and even a birthday cake. The complaint came with numerous screenshots of Dipset Couture’s product listings and Cam’ron’s posts promoting them.
And, according to the lawsuit, Cam’ron was alerted numerous times that he was using the image without a license.
“Getty Images notified defendants of their infringing activities by mail and email on multiple occasions,” Cochran’s lawyers wrote. “Despite those notifications, defendants continued to sell merchandise and continued to display the photograph on website and accounts.”
Reps for Cam’ron did not immediately return a request for comment.
Cochran’s image (featured above) captured Cam’ron at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Show in New York in 2003, wearing a flashy color that would become a key part of his brand identity. In 2016, GQ magazine used the photo atop an article titled “Cam’ron Is Very Particular When It Comes to the Color Pink,” saying that the rapper had “defined himself with an iconic pink mink coat” at that fashion show.
While it might sound unfair to a celebrity, the copyrights to a photo are almost always retained by the person who snapped it. Being featured in an image doesn’t grant someone a right to use it for free, and certainly not on commercial merchandise.
That’s not a new dilemma for stars. Over the last few years, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Emily Ratajkowski, LeBron James, Katy Perry and others have all faced copyright cases after they re-used photos of themselves snapped by someone else.
But the lawsuit against Cam’ron is potentially more serious than those earlier cases, which mostly dealt with stars just reposting an image on social media. His alleged unauthorized use of Cochran’s image on numerous commercial products, even after he was allegedly warned to stop, could leave him facing more substantial damages.
According to screenshots included in the lawsuit, Cam’ron had been doing so for years. Instagram posts from his mr_camron handle dating back as far as 2014 show Cochran’s image, including on skateboards, facemasks and reposted in full.
