At the end of March of this year, Ice Cube filed a firm complaint against the Robinhood scholarship app for allegedly using his name and image without permission in an “advertisement”. Now a federal judge has officially dismissed the complaint due to lack of standing.
The 52-year-old creator of “It was a good day” alleged in his merciless action that the “unscrupulous and predatory conglomerate” Robinhood had “used the image and likeness of Ice Cube – without his permission – to promote ”his“ terrible products and services ”.
The said “image and likeness” referred to a photo (from 2007 Are We Done Yet?) Of the rapper and actor as well as modified lyrics from his song “Check Yo Self,” posted as part of “an online article that ‘he [Robinhood] published on a market correction for technology stocks, ”according to the defendant. Ice Cube and his lawyer again characterized the post as “advertising”, although the judge, in his order granting the dismissal request, indicated that the article / bulletin “is clearly not an advertisement” .
The artist also said he sent the company a cease and desist letter on March 10, 2021, but the entity reportedly continued to exploit the media in question. Robinhood superiors, for their part, quickly rebuffed the allegations.
Further, the lawsuit noted that entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz – who co-founded Big3 with Ice Cube and serves as COO of the rapper’s Cube Vision production business – had “publicly held the company accountable.” by previously filing a separate lawsuit against Robinhood (and not involving Ice Cube).
Robinhood, eight, “specifically sought to punish and make an example of Ice Cube because of” Kwatinetz’s earlier complaint, the newly dismissed action said. Finally, as to the nuances of the litigation, Robinhood, who enlisted Jay-Z, Nas and other actors to appear in promotions, allegedly relied on “his high-profile association with such prominent rappers when” he illegally used the image and likeness of Ice Cube. . “
As initially mentioned, however, a federal judge has now dismissed Ice Cube’s lawsuit against Robinhood for lack of standing, according to new documents, “because the plaintiff did not plausibly plead that Robinhood’s use of his identity suggested his endorsement of Robinhood’s products ”.
Ice Cube, Judge Laurel Beeler explained in her ruling, “plausibly alleged his celebrity status and economic harm”. However, the California native “did not plausibly allege that the use of his identity was an endorsement, meaning he has no standing,” the judge also determined.
Regarding Robinhood’s claim that Ice Cube did not plausibly demonstrate its celebrity status “because it relies on old activities (music in the 1980s and movies in the 1990s) or the ones that aren’t famous (the three-on-three basketball tournament) ”in the lawsuit, the presiding judge asked why Robinhood“ would use the image and a paraphrase of the slogan if he didn’t not capitalizing on Ice Cube’s celebrity status ”.
Building on this point, Ice Cube “robustly” claimed that his celebrity status “allows for his recovery if he otherwise makes viable claims for unauthorized use of his identity,” the judge wrote. In addition to dismissing the complaint for lack of standing, the court dismissed Robinhood’s motion to strike out moot, giving the complainant 21 days to file an amended complaint (with “a black line of changes ”).
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