Icelandic photographer Katrín Þóra Bragadóttir is planning to sue Kanye West’s personal stylist Virgil Abloh for illegally using one of her images on a t-shirt.
According to an article posted on IceNews, the image in question, originally posted in 2011, was taken from Katrín’s Flickr account without her consent and made into a garment by Virgil for his clothing line, Pyrex.
The shirt first came to Katrín’s attention in October 2012 when friends of hers saw pictures of A$AP Rocky wearing the shirt bearing her photography. “I started googling and saw that Kanye West was wearing it too,” she told us via phone. “Then I saw that it was selling for a lot of money.” The limited edition shirt sold out in the autumn at $85 USD per item.
“I’m both honoured and proud, while determined to seek for compensation for having my picture used commercially,” Katrín told IceNews, “I don’t mind my pictures being shared on the internet, but it’s a different story if they are going to be used for commercial purposes without asking for my permission.”
Katrín believes this violates copyright law and is seeking compensation. “My sister knows a lawyer in the states who is Icelandic and I’ve been in contact with him,” she says. “I don’t know what’s going to happen but I would like to get something. The shirt sold out so they clearly made a lot of money off this.”
She adds that if they had asked her, she would have gladly given permission for the use of her photo.
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