Leafly settles legal dispute over Tupac photo
Cannabis marketplace Leafly settles copyright dispute over Tupac photo usage.
Online cannabis marketplace Leafly has reached a settlement with a photographer who accused the company of copyright infringement after it used a photo he had taken of Tupac without permission.
Legal reps for Leafly hadn't filed a formal response to the lawsuit filed by T Eric Monroe with the courts in New York in July, but this week submitted a notice of settlement, requesting that the judge suspend the current deadlines set in the case.
Monroe's lawsuit claimed that the Leafly website used one of his Tupac photos alongside some copy about blunts, ie hollowed out cigars filled with cannabis. “Blunts are durable, deliver a powerful high and are hard to visually differentiate from tobacco-filled cigars”, the website noted.
“That combination makes them more convenient than joints or pipes for smokers in places that heavily criminalise the plant”, it went on. “Especially for communities that were impacted by harsher marijuana laws and biased enforcement during the war on drugs”.
The picture of Tupac was featured alongside this copy because the short article also contained the following bit of top blunt-based trivia: “In 1993, New York native Tupac taught Snoop Dogg how to roll a blunt in California, turning Snoop off of joints forever”.
“Defendants … have willfully copied, reproduced, and distributed the subject photography for financial benefit”, the lawsuit then stated.
This week's court filing says: "Defendant Leafly Holdings Inc hereby notifies the court that it and plaintiff T Eric Monroe have reached an agreement in principle to settle all claims between them in this matter and are in the process of documenting and performing their settlement obligations".
Needless to say, no details of the settlement deal was provided. A free supply of extra big blunts for life, maybe?
