Martin Shkreli and Wu Tang Clan sued over $2m ‘Shaolin’ album artwork

Artist Jason Koza claims his art was used without permission

A US based artist is suing the controversial ex-pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli amid claims that portaits he posted on a blog have been used as artwork for the $2m Wu Tang Clan album.

Jason Koza has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Shkreli and appeared in a Manhattan federal court yesterday (February 9). He claims that portraits he created were used without permission as part of ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’.

Koza said he learned of his artwork featuring as part of the album when he saw a news story on Shkreli and his multi-million dollar purchase. Billboard reports that he is seeking unspecified damages from Shkreli, an unnamed Wu-Tang leader, a music producer and the album’s auctioneer.

NMEGetty
Advertisement

His portraits date back to 2013 and 2014 and feature comic-book-style images of the rap crew with personalised named such as “Ghostface Killa-Koza,” ”Inspecta Deck-Koza” and “U-God-Koza.” Koza applied to copyright all nine of his Wu-Tang Clan portraits on February 1.

This is the latest legal drama for Shkreli, who pleaded not guilty to securities fraud charges at a Brooklyn federal court after being accused of cheating investors in companies he created out of money.

Shkreli made headlines and angered many in 2015 after buying the rights to life-saving drug Daraprim and significantly increasing the cost for users. The drug is primarily used by those diagnosed with AIDS. He has since engaged in a war of words with members of Wu-Tang Clan, and recently claimed he will “smack” Ghostface Killah.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories