A Los Angeles-based photographer is suing singer Mariah Angeliq, Penske Media and Urban Outfitters for copyright infringement after his photograph ended up on merchandise sold by the retailer and in campaign promotions.
Enso Law filed a lawsuit on behalf of Abdullah Webster in the United States District Court Central District of California, Western Division on April 26.
The lawsuit accuses Angeliq of failing to compensate Webster and his company, Hexlastudios, for a photograph he was asked to take of the 23-year-old reggaeton, trap and R&B singer. Webster agreed to take photographs of Angeliq for non-commercial use only back in 2021 with the understanding the pictures from the photo shoot could only be used on social media with the appropriate credit to Webster and Hexlastudios.
“Mariah did not compensate Webster for the photoshoot. Before, during, and after the photoshoot, Webster put Mariah on notice that all of the photographs taken belonged to his company, Hexlastudios and that she may only post photographs for non-commercial purposes on social media, so long as she attributed the work to him and Hexlastudios,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit stated that the “Taxi” singer sold one of the photographs to Urban Outfitters and Penske Media to be used to promote Angeliq’s music release and performances during Latin Music Week as well as to sell clothes for the retail store. The complaint also says that the photograph was used to drive traffic to Billboard Music’s website and Urban Outfitters’ website. The image was also printed on t-shirts sold at Urban Outfitters.
Webster hired attorneys David Welch and Marcus Whittemore from Enso Law to represent him after the photograph was used commercially. The photographer said that Angeliq was fully aware that the copy of the photograph he gave her one week following the photo shoot was strictly for non-commercial use.
“A lot of people in this business understand, like, if I shoot…
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