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Jay-Z Sues ‘Reasonable Doubt’  Photographer For ‘Exploiting’ His Name & Likeness

Jay-Z is suing photographer Jonathan Mannion, the photographer responsible for the Reasonable Doubt album cover, for using his name and image without consent. 

Complex obtained the court documents, which allege that Jay has been selling prints on his website without the rapper’s consent. Jay says the photographer has been making a lot of money from the side hustle.

“Mannion has developed a highly-profitable business by selling copies of photographs of JAY-Z on Mannion’s website and retail store, and by selling licenses to others to use JAY-Z’s image,” the court documents read. 

“Mannion has done so on the arrogant assumption that because he took those photographs, he can do with them as he pleases. But JAY-Z never gave Mannion the right to use his likeness for these or any other purposes. And without that permission, Mannion has no legal right to do so. JAY-Z has asked Mannion to stop, but he refuses to do so.”

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But Mannion doesn’t seem to think he should stop.

“Mr. Mannion has created iconic images of Mr. Carter over the years, and is proud that these images have helped to define the artist that Jay-Z is today. Mr. Mannion has the utmost respect for Mr. Carter and his body of work, and expects that Mr. Carter would similarly respect the rights of artists and creators who have helped him achieve the heights to which he has ascended,” his legal team said in a statement to the publication.

“We are confident that the First Amendment protects Mr. Mannion’s right to sell fine art prints of his copyrighted works, and will review the complaint and respond in due course.”

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