Oct 21 (Reuters) – A California federal jury on Friday rejected claims that musician Cardi B misused a person’s picture on the duvet of her first 2016 mixtape album.
The duvet of “Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1” didn’t violate plaintiff Kevin Michael Brophy’s publicity or privateness rights by depicting an altered picture of one other man with Brophy’s distinctive again tattoo performing oral intercourse on the favored rapper, the Santa Ana jury discovered after a four-day trial and a day of deliberations.
Brophy’s 2017 lawsuit sought at the very least $5 million in damages from Cardi B and her ex-manager Klenord Raphael, in addition to an order blocking her from utilizing his likeness.
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Brophy’s legal professional Barry Cappello of Cappello & Noel stated in an electronic mail to Reuters that Cardi B and Raphael had been “gracious winners” and shook palms with Brophy after the decision.
“If this chapter can shut, it could be greatest for the Brophy household’s capacity to place this behind them,” Cappello stated.
Representatives for Cardi B, whose given identify is Belcalis Almanzar, didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the decision.
Brophy, from Costa Mesa, California, stated in his lawsuit that he works for a “socially-conscious surf and life-style firm” and described himself as a household man with a spouse and two younger kids.
He stated he confronted “uncomfortable feedback, questions, and mock” after Cardi B launched the express mixtape cowl that includes a person with Brophy’s distinctive tattoo photoshopped onto his again.
In the course of the trial, Brophy known as the tattoo of a tiger combating a snake his “Michaelangelo.”
The New York rapper argued that the duvet’s use of the design qualifies as “transformative” below mental property regulation and is constitutionally protected.
The tattoo was used “in an nameless method, as a single constructing block” within the complicated cowl picture, Cardi B stated in a courtroom submitting.
She additionally stated the mannequin who posed for the duvet was “Black, with hair,” whereas Brophy is a “middle-aged Caucasian with a shaved head.”
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Reporting by Blake Brittain
Modifying by David Bario, Rosalba O’Brien and Lincoln Feast
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