Art Market

Artist Lina Iris Viktor sued Kendrick Lamar, alleging the music video for Lamar’s song for the “Black Panther” soundtrack copied her work.

Artsy Editors
Feb 21, 2018 3:00PM, via Artsy

The music video for the the centerpiece of the movie’s soundtrack, the Kendrick Lamar and SZA song “All the Stars,” has been viewed over 32 million times on YouTube and reached the number nine slot on the Billboard Hot 100 (the album rose to number one on the chart this week). But an artist is charging that parts of the video’s imagery were copied from her own artwork, according to federal court documents filed in New York Tuesday. British-Liberian artist Lina Iris Viktor is suing Lamar, SZA, Universal Music Group, and others involved in the video’s production, alleging that the gold print patterns that appear in roughly 19 seconds of the video infringe on her artworks, which are painted in a similar style, using materials including 24-karat gold. Viktor is seeking damages, along with an injunction prohibiting the use of her work to promote the film and preventing the video from being shown further in public.

Artsy Editors