Photographer Mentored by Prince Sues the Late Singer's Estate for Copyright Infringement, Unauthorized Image Usage

A photographer has filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement against the late Prince’s estate. After working with the musician for the last few years of his life, she believes those associated with his estate have been exploiting her work without the correct license.

Madison Dube filed the claim last week against the estate and “associated companies.” The lawsuit details how Prince discovered the photographer’s work back in 2013, with the pair striking up a friendship. Prince became a mentor to Dube in that time, hiring her on a freelance basis on many occasions for photography, videography, graphic design, and other creative work.

Interestingly, the lawsuit specifies that Dube never signed away the rights to work, as Prince was adamant all artists should retain the right to their own artistry. The problem lies in that his estate, Dube claims, has continued to use images she took in various capacities, not least of which was in advertising, and on merchandise. She claims she was not consulted about any such usage and has proof the team was aware it was her work, usually credited the usages to her, and in some cases, even reached out to negotiate before they went ahead and used the images.

The lawsuit continues:

Ms Dube now brings this action to assert her rights guaranteed under the Copyright Act, and to preserve the integrity of her work, currently being commercialized by defendants and used for mass-marketing, mass-produced sales and advertising, without her consent and contrary to the intent behind the creation of those works.

The photographer is seeking an injunction in order to stop any future use of her images and seeks damages for all past uses, too.

Lead image: "Prince NSJ" by PeterTea, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 .