It's apparently been a
hard-knock life for New York City clothing designer Dwayne Walker, who
claims he came up with the Roc-A-Fella design when the record label
began making its mark in 1995, the New York Daily News reports.
But despite an alleged deal, the designer claims he's been short-changed by Jay-Z and the other fellas behind Roc-A-Fella.
The
Jay-Z lawsuit alleges the rapper and his ex-partners at Roc-A-Fella
agreed to pay Dwayne Walker $3,500 for his logo design, along with 2%
royalties from all products that carry the logo, until 2015, the New York Post reports.
To date, those royalties amount to at least $7 million, the designer's lawsuit alleges.
Walker
claims copyright infringement in his suit, filed in Manhattan Federal
Court. "The logo has become universally recognized as an iconic symbol
of Jay-Z, one of the most successful recording artists in the history of
popular music," the suit states, according to the Daily News.
Without
more details about the actual Rock-A-Fella/Jay-Z lawsuit, however, it's
not clear how the copyright infringement claim might fare in court.
In
general, an artistic work like a logo design is automatically protected
by copyright. The creator of the work has the exclusive right to
reproduce or redistribute the artwork, or even license it to others.
But
if an artist designs a logo for a company as an independent contractor,
the company may technically own the copyright. It depends on the
parties' agreement, which in the Rock-A-Fella case has not been publicly
disclosed.
Roc-A-Fella is now owned by Universal Music Group, but it's not clear how that plays into Dwayne Walker's Jay-Z lawsuit.
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