One of the product listings for an allegedly infringing Biggie Smalls poster. Photo Credit: Digital Music News
The Notorious B.I.G. estate and others are suing canvas-art company iCanvas as well as several retailers for allegedly infringing on a well-known picture of the famed rapper.
The Biggie Smalls estate’s IP company, Republic Merchandising, and photographer Barron Claiborne just recently submitted their straightforward suit to an Illinois federal court.
On the opposite side of the legal battle, the action names as defendants not just iCanvas, but a closely associated business, the companies’ shared founder, Target, Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond’s parent, and Nordstrom. (The plaintiffs intend to add more defendants down the line, the document emphasizes for good measure.)
As laid out in the complaint, the veteran photog Claiborne captured the “King of New York” photo of Biggie, wearing a plastic crown, three days before the rapper’s 1997 passing. That shot subsequently became culturally prominent, with the actual crown having sold for almost $600,000 at auction, the legal text indicates.
Fast forward to 2015, when iCanvas allegedly began infringing on Biggie’s NIL, trademarks, and the mentioned photograph itself as part of “a multi-year unlawful campaign.”
In its FAQs section, iCanvas encourages artists to submit their portfolios if they’re interested in featuring works on the site. At least according to the plaintiffs, when contacted about the alleged infringement in 2023, iCanvas said it’d received the relevant Biggie artwork from two individuals (both non-parties here).
And that artwork centered on the “King of New York” photo and ultimately encompassed 108 SKUs, which iCanvas printed and sold, the action claims.
“ICanvas either has not had a procedure for vetting the pieces it received from ‘artists’ and ‘designers’ for intellectual property and personality rights clearance purposes,” the suit proceeds, “has had a wholly ineffective one, or has had one persons at the company simply have not used.”
Unsurprisingly, given the complaint, the plaintiffs say they didn’t approve these alleged usages – or the items’ alleged sale via the above-mentioned retailers, which are named as defendants for allegedly offering the resulting products to customers.
When contacted by the plaintiffs in 2023, iCanvas purportedly responded by removing the identified products but not all those allegedly infringing on the Biggie IP.
The printing-company defendant also opted against providing “a detailed accounting and contact information for the ‘artists’ and ‘designers’ that initially provided the company the infringing items,” the text proceeds.
On the retail side, after receiving related notices of their own, each of the appropriate companies save Bed Bath and Beyond removed the Notorious B.I.G. items in question, the suit maintains.
(The referenced products were still live on Bed Bath’s website yesterday, per the action, but were seemingly pulled between then and this piece’s writing.)
All told, the plaintiffs are seeking damages for copyright infringement on the main photo, trademark infringement, publicity-law violations, unfair competition, false advertising, and more.
DMN reached out to iCanvas for comment but didn’t receive a response in time for publishing.