50 Cent Wins Lawsuit Against Q's WorldstarHipHop.Com - HollywoodReporter

[WSFGDan]

• 50 Cent, the rapper and president of G-Unit Records, has gotten a partial victory in a lawsuit brought against a DJ who ran hip-hop website wordstarhiphop.com featuring mixtapes, including ones that had songs by the plaintiff. The main controversy in the lawsuit had to do with the website's masthead that contained an image of 50 Cent. In a ruling on Monday, a federal judge granted the hip-hop star summary judgment on copyright and right of publicity claims. In doing so, the judge rejected affirmative defenses including fair use. According to the ruling, "Defendants provide no authority to support the fair use of a celebrity’s image or likeness. This is not surprising, as a celebrity’s image, standing alone, only evokes that celebrity’s persona. Jackson’s image does not, by itself, describe anything about Defendants’ website."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/th...r/news+(The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Top+Stories)

"Now Watch Me Ball" lol

 

[Krazy]

Guess that meeting aint happen.

But aint like Q and Whoo Kid cousins, which is why 50 used to be the header for years back in Worldstars early days

 

[WSFGDan]

 

[Viva]

I SHOULD BLACK YA EYE

 

[Trey0'5Blue2Gz]

Guess that meeting aint happen.

But aint like Q and Whoo Kid cousins, which is why 50 used to be the header for years back in Worldstars early days

According to 50, the website was created as a space for people to hate on him, in using his image it would drive more traffic.

Never heard of Whoo Kid being related to Q tho

 

[Krazy]

According to 50, the website was created as a space for people to hate on him, in using his image it would drive more traffic.

Never heard of Whoo Kid being related to Q tho

Didnt WSHH start as a mixtape site that was owned by Q and Whoo kid which pushed gunit tapes

But yeah Q's his cousin


Edit;

Among humans, Q’s best ally turned out to be lifelong friend Yves Ceac, better known as DJ Whoo Kid. (He declined to comment for this story.) When the G-Unit juggernaut began picking up steam in 2001, Q founded NYCPhatMixtapes.com as Whoo Kid’s official Web site. He was living in public housing in central Pennsylvania but selling New York’s hottest hip-hop commodities: 50 Cent Is the Future, Guess Who’s Back? and other mixtapes featuring 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. “I was just another part of the entourage,” says Q, of his relationship with G-Unit. “50 used to see me and say, ‘What’s up?’—he recognized my face—but he didn’t give a fukk about me.”

50, who says he’s in litigation with World Star for incorporating his likeness into the original WSHH logo has been disturbed by the platform Q provided to 50’s opponents. “If there’s a dispute between me and another artist, there’s more online traffic. People trying to keep up with it. Almost like a soap opera,” says 50. “When that happens, he tries to cover the other side of it as much as possible so he can have exclusive content. Because he can’t have exclusive content with thisis50.com being in existence.”

In 2005, Q launched WorldStarHipHop.com as a digital download site. There was good money to be made selling physical copies of mixtapes for $15, but he couldn’t handle the shipping responsibilities. Here, for a monthly fee, members could download an assortment of mixtapes, not just G-Unit material. In 2007, Q decided to start showcasing videos. He posted an ad on GetACoder.com seeking a freelance computer programmer. It requested “EXACTLY THE SAME EVERYTHING FEATURES” as OnSmash.net, another popular hip-hop site. Shortly after WorldStarHipHop appropriated its layout, hackers took it down and, according to Q, declared vengeance for OnSmash. (OnSmash declined to comment for this story.) It took seven months to fix. “I felt like quitting, like, ‘fukk the Internet,’” Q says.

http://www.vibe.com/article/worldstarhiphop-exposed-truth-behind-controversial-site-pg-3

 

[Young/Nacho\Drawz]

I always thought the claims were frivolous and that 50 wanted to wrestle power away from worldstar and have thisis50 be the biggest hip hop site online. If you go back in time most hip hop sites used the likeness of artist. Site's like Boxden still do. I don't understand how this even made it to court.

Also, Q actually helped 50/G-Unit stay relevant online before Worldstar by bringing their music to the masses. The same thing 50 was doing on the street with mixtapes Q was doing online.

 

[Born2BKing]

Can't use peoples pictures without permission for profit

 

[Trey0'5Blue2Gz]

I aint never really been a wshh guy always thought it was full of trash but IIRC Im sure the site pushed a lot of 50 videos. Wasnt Q on tour with 50 anyway.

But yeah Q's his cousin

Yea he had him on tour with him after GRODT I think, anyways the website launched in 05. 50 was huge around 03-06

 

[The Bookie]

This case was still active?

 

[Trey0'5Blue2Gz]

I always thought the claims were frivolous and that 50 wanted to wrestle power away from worldstar and have thisis50 be the biggest hip hop site online. If you go back in time most hip hop sites used the likeness of artist. Site's like Boxden still do. I don't understand how this even made it to court.

Also, Q actually helped 50/G-Unit stay relevant online before Worldstar by bringing their music to the masses. The same thing 50 was doing on the street with mixtapes Q was doing online.

How did he help G-Unit?

 

[Detroit Wave]

This case was still active?

lawsuits arent instant breh. shyt takes a lot of time and paperwork.

 

[NSSVO]

Fif doesn't play. If he owes, he pays... he expects the same

 

[Easy-E]

Can't use peoples pictures without permission for profit

Yep...just hope thecoli got a separate account to cut that check if the NFL, NBA, Hanes, MLB, etc. get greedy.

 

[JayYoung314]

LMAO never seen that good shyt. whys he so mad tho ? full story plz ????