Aaron Carter Pays Up $12,500 For Using Art To Promote His Merch Without Consent
Image via CarlaVanWagoner / Shutterstock.com
After a heated Twitter rant sure of himself, American rapper Aaron Carter has lost a settlement against Berlin-based artist Jonas Jödicke, costing him US$12,500 for using a piece of art to promote his own merchandise last year without permission or license in any form.
When Jödicke asked for his copyrighted art to be removed at the time, Carter responded curtly in a since-deleted tweet, “You should've taken it as a compliment d**k, a fan of MINE sent this to me,” and made no indication that he would retract the stolen artwork or come to any licensing agreement with him.
Brotherhood is the title of the artwork, featuring two lions touching foreheads—one white with a sun and one black with a moon. It is the piece that kickstarted his career as a freelance artist, he tells Forbes in an exclusive interview.
This isn’t the first time Jödicke has run into issues with his art being stolen; there was an incident with Madonna in which she posted an image of herself photoshopped onto one of his paintings. However, to avoid controversy, he backed down after his request to remove that image had gone unheard. This is a move he regrets, and he reflects, “If we artists always back down like that, things will never change.”
A year and a half later, Jödicke has announced that he won the case. At the bottom of his tweet, he adds, “Artists, please fight for your rights! If you won’t, no one will.”
In 2020 Aaron Carter used my art to promote his clothing without my permission.
— Jonas Jödicke (@JoJoesArt) June 30, 2021
I took him to court and am happy to announce we came to an agreement after 1 1/2 years. Aaron paid 12,500$ as part of a settlement.
Artists, please fight for your rights! If you won‘t, no one will. pic.twitter.com/g6uNEhBkHH
[via Boing Boing, image via CarlaVanWagoner / Shutterstock.com]
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