{"id":5229,"date":"2025-04-11T21:21:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T21:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/quavo-tiktok-video-featuring-ferrari-sculpture-draws-copyright-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T21:21:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T21:21:26","slug":"quavo-tiktok-video-featuring-ferrari-sculpture-draws-copyright-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/quavo-tiktok-video-featuring-ferrari-sculpture-draws-copyright-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Quavo TikTok Video Featuring Ferrari Sculpture Draws Copyright Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tQuavo is facing a copyright lawsuit centered on a recent music video \u2014 not over an uncleared sample or a stolen melody, but a quartz sculpture of a 1961 Ferrari that he used as a prop.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a complaint filed late last month, attorneys for sculptor Daniel Arsham claim the rapper (Quavious Marshall) \u201cunlawfully exploited\u201d the Ferrari sculpture by rapping in front of it in a video he posted to TikTok and other social platforms in December.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWithout his consent, and without his knowledge, defendants created a video which prominently featured the artwork to promote the music of Quavo,\u201d Arsham\u2019s lawyers write in the March 31 lawsuit. \u201cMr. Arsham never consented to the artwork being used in the infringing content.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tArsham created the sculpture \u2014 fully entitled \u201cQuartz Eroded 1961 Ferrari GT\u201d \u2014 in 2018 as part of a series portraying famous cars that have been \u201ceroded\u201d like an ancient archeological find. He says it\u2019s been publicly displayed twice, most recently at Los Angeles\u2019 Petersen Automotive Museum in 2023.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn December, Quavo posted a video to Instagram and other platforms under the caption \u201cBack To The Basics 2025!!\u201d, featuring him rapping in front of what appears to be Arsham\u2019s work. The video, which remains on TikTok<\/a>, focuses heavily on the sculpture, including close-ups on its eroded features.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust like music, books and paintings, sculptures are protected by federal copyright law, and reproducing one without permission can theoretically amount to infringement. Back in 2018, the artist behind Chicago\u2019s \u201cBean\u201d sculpture sued the National Rifle Association<\/a> for using the famed statue in a promotional video.<\/p>\n

\n\tCopyrighted works captured in the background of video footage raise tricky legal questions. A federal judge ruled in 2018<\/a> that a Detroit graffiti artist could move ahead with suing General Motors after his mural appeared in a Cadillac commercial. But last year, another federal judge dismissed a case<\/a> filed by a photographer whose image briefly appeared in the background of a documentary about Billie Eilish.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his lawsuit, Arsham says the use of his sculpture was hardly coincidental or brief: \u201cThe infringing video features Quavo performing in front of the Artwork. The Infringing Video is 45 seconds long and features the Artwork prominently throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to the artist\u2019s attorneys, when Quavo posted still images of the video to Instagram, he actually tagged Arsham\u2019s Instagram handle in the caption. They say that not only confirms that he knew he was using a copyrighted work, but also violated Arsham\u2019s likeness rights.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMr. Arsham never consented to his name being used in connection with the Infringing Post or any promotion of Quavo,\u201d his attorneys wrote. \u201cDefendants are using Mr. Arsham\u2019s name for commercial advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA rep for Quavo did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday (April 11). The lawsuit also names Quavo\u2019s label, Quality Control Music, and its parent company, HYBE America, as co-defendants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quavo is facing a copyright lawsuit centered on a recent music video \u2014 not over an uncleared sample or a stolen melody, but a quartz sculpture of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[429,2603,5478,5479,303,5477,5480,182,1556],"class_list":["post-5229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-copyright","tag-draws","tag-featuring","tag-ferrari","tag-lawsuit","tag-quavo","tag-sculpture","tag-tiktok","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}