Ice Cube’s second attempt at suing popular stock trading app ‘Robinhood’ has resulted in another loss for the N.W.A legend — and this time, with prejudice.
According to CMU, a judge ruled Robinhood didn’t violate any laws when they used Ice Cube’s likeness for last year’s Robinhood Snacks’ “Correct yourself before you wreck yourself” campaign, a play on his lyrics from the 1993 classic “Check Yo Self.”
The court agreed with Robinhood’s legal team and determined Ice Cube “did not allege how Robinhood’s use of his identity created the [misperception] that Ice Cube sponsored, endorsed, or is affiliated with Robinhood,” even though he sufficiently pleaded his celebrity status and economic injury.
The court added Robinhood’s uses of Ice Cube’s image and catchphrase served only as an “illustration of an article about market corrections…[and did] not suggest [Ice Cube] endorsed Robinhood.”
In the original legal documents, Ice Cube reportedly said Robinhood is the “antithesis of everything he stands for” and referred to their products and services as “horrible.” Cube also suggested Robinhood has an issue with his business partner Jeff Kwatinetz who also has an impending lawsuit against the company and this is their way of antagonizing Kwatinetz.
But Robinhood denied they did anything illegal, saying at the time, “No, we didn’t use his image without permission. The image was licensed and used for non-commercial, editorial purposes in connection with a blog article.”
A source reportedly close to Ice Cube fired back, “This is Robinhood exhibiting lack of respect for the law or the people they hurt. Ice Cube did not license his image nor his lyrics printed next to his picture and would never endorse Robinhood.
“When asked to take it down because he was offended, Robinhood refused. In addition, calling blatant propaganda for Robinhood’s trading app and online services merely ‘editorial use’ shows someone needs to send their lawyer back to school.”
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