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Brands & Merch Business News Legal
Jenner sisters settle photographer litigation over controversial t-shirts
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 5 April 2018
Kendall and Kylie Jenner have settled a legal dispute with a photographer over a t-shirt featuring an image of Tupac Shakur.
The Jenners started selling a line of overpriced rock and pop themed t-shirts last year. The shirts all featured some sort of Jenner-related image over the top of photos of artists such as The Doors, Notorious BIG, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne and Tupac Shakur.
There was much criticism of the venture, and cease-and-desist letters followed from representatives of The Doors and Notorious BIG. The t-shirts were subsequently withdrawn from sale and the Jenners apologised, saying that the designs “were not well thought out”.
Then photographer Mike Miller went legal because it was his photo of Tupac that had been used. The legal complaint stated that the Jenners “at no times notified Miller that they intended to exploit his photography, let alone obtained his authorisation”.
The company behind the t-shirts then hit back claiming that the Jenners had simply printed their images on top of existing unsold rock and pop t-shirts, so that no new versions of Miller’s photo had been copied in the production process. Therefore, it was argued, no permission had been required and no infringement had occurred.
Which would have made for an interesting debate in court. But that is not to be, because a new filing yesterday confirmed that a settlement has now been reached. As a result both sides have requested that the case be dismissed. Terms of the settlement are not known, although both sides plan to cover their own legal costs.
