Forever 21 And Urban Outfitters Sued Over Tupac Shirt

(RTTNews) - Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters are among five companies facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over photos of Tupac Shakur in T-Shirts.

Photographer Danny Clinch, who took the pictures for Rolling Stone's 1993 and 1996 covers, filed the lawsuit in New York, alleging that the retailers didn't have permission to put these pictures on the shirts, Consumerist reported. Clinch reportedly copyrighted his photos in 2002.

He is asking for damages in excess of $600,000 between licensing fees and revenue from Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters selling the shirts. Clinch is also seeking to destroy the remaining shirts with these photos.

Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters sold the t-shirts produced by Bioworld and licensed through Planet Productions LLC and Amaru/AWA Merchandising Inc.

The lawsuit claims these images were licensed to Planet Productions in 2012 by Amaru/AWA Merchandising in a deal that stated Amaru was acting on behalf of those who owned the copyrights for the pictures. Clinch says that he did not give consent to Amaru to license the images.

He also alleged that Planet failed to use due diligence to get the proper information regarding ownership of the copyrights, and made a deal with manufacturing company Bioworld, who created and sold the shirts to Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters.