Kendall and Kylie Jenner have responded to the copyright infringement lawsuit lodged on Friday by photographer Michael Miller, the man who captured the iconic – and copyrighted – images of Tupac that the women so happily desecrated in their latest clothing line.
Or at least their clothing company, Kendall + Kylie, have.
In a statement, the company argue that there was “no infringement or violation of anyone’s rights“, as they had purchased the images from a company who been authorised to license them:
“The allegations made are completely false, and the lawsuit is baseless.”“Canada Inc, the licensee manufacturer of the K + K brand, purchased a very small quantity of vintage T-shirts with performer images already on them. Only two Tupac T-shirts were sold before being pulled from distribution.“Canada Inc did not copy anyone’s image, remove any copyright notice from any image or attempt to exploit Mr. Miller’s claimed right of publicity.”
The duo are being sued by Miller for the use of his copyrighted images of Tupac on their misguided let’s-superimpose-ourselves-on-top-of-retro-artists-that-is-a-great-idea-this-will-not-end-badly T-shirts, priced at $165. Steep.
In the complaint, Miller said that the Jenners “misappropriated and wrongfully exploited” his work. He is seeking any profits made while the shirts were on sale.
His lawyer Scott Alan Burroughs said that the Jenners could end up paying statutory damages of almost $200K per pic.
In their original apology, posted after threats of legal action from the The Doors and Notorious B.I.G. estates led the duo to kibosh the entire line and to remove its imagery from the internet, the sisters said that were “very sorry“:
“These designs were not well thought out and we deeply apologise to anyone that has been upset and/or offended, especially to the families of the artists. We are huge fans of their music and it was not our intention to disrespect these cultural icons in any way.”
The Jenners have not yet had anything to say about Kendall’s face being splashed on Arcade Fire‘s London tour merch last week, the proceeds of which went to Boston-based global health org, Partners In Health.
Source: Rolling Stone.
Photo: Gabriel Olsen / Getty.
