Actor and rapper Ice Cube’s lawsuit against Robinhood has gotten heated. Cube originally filed the lawsuit on March 31 after Robinhood used his image and song lyrics in an advertisement to sell their product without his permission.
The stock-trading app contended that they have every right to use Cube’s phrase “Check Yo Self, Before You Wreck Yo Self,” without permission because they claim it is a common slang phrase which they used as the parody, “Correct yourself, before you wreck yourself.”
They also filed a motion to have Cube’s suit dismissed, claiming that he has no claim to copyrights.
Robinhood used a picture of Cube from the film Are We There Yet? along with the caption, “Correct yourself, before you wreck yourself,” in an article about tech stocks falling.
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Photo courtesy of Robinhood.
Mitchell Langberg, the attorney for Robinhood, and claimed that the phrase, “Check yo self, before you wreck yo self,” is a common, slang phrase used by “all walks of life in American culture,” and that Robinhood has merely comically parodied an “ubiquitous phrase.”
Langberg contends that ”a light-hearted play on words does not, and legally cannot, result in consumer confusion because the ordinary consumer will recognize that Defendants’ use is making fun of the commonly-used slang phrase.”
Cube’s lawyer Michael A. Taitelman said that Robinhood’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit was an attempt to coverup their wrong-doing.
“Robinhood now seeks to evade responsibility for their misconduct by filing a blunderbuss motion that misses the mark,” said Taitelman, adding Cube’s image and likeness were commercialized and “executed without the consent,” of Cube.
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Clearly, Robinhood did not ask Ice Cube for permission to use his likeness and lyrics to sell their product and is doubling-down on their foolishness. Let’s hope the judge see’s through this obvious attempt to piggy-back off the culture without compensation. Just pay the man!
