It looks like rapper Cam’ron has run into a little problem on the road to building his entrepreneurial empire.
According to XXL, the Harlem native has been sued by a photographer accusing him of copyright infringement. Earlier this week, Djamilla Rosa Cochran, the photographer who snapped images of the Horse and Carriage rapper in his infamous pink fur outfit that many fans remember him for, filed suit against him for using the pic without her consent.
XXL obtained legal documents stating that the photographer owns the copyright to the image Cam has used for years. The papers were filed on Tuesday, April 11. Cochran is suing the rapper and his company, Dipset Couture LLC, for copyright infringement.
“Defendant Dipset Couture LLC, without permission or authorization from Plaintiff, actively copied and displayed the Photograph on the Website as part of various product listings (‘Merchandise Listings’) and engaged in this misconduct knowingly and in violation of the United States copyright laws,” the lawsuit reads. “Getty Images notified defendants of their infringing activities by mail and email on multiple occasions. Despite those notifications, defendants continued to sell merchandise and continued to display the photograph on website and accounts.”
Cochran is requesting that a jury hear her case as she is seeking damages, including all of the profits that the Dipset leader has made off the merchandise that features the photo.
Over the past 20 years since the photograph was taken in 2003, Cam’ron has profited off the image seen on merchandise, including shower curtains, socks, beach towels, jewelry, hoodies, bikinis, and more. Those items can be seen on his Instagram page.
The image referenced in the lawsuit was photographed in February 2003 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. He is wearing the infamous pink fur and holding his flip phone. This image is probably one of the most recognizable of the recording artist.
