'Once Upon a Time in Shaolin' Photographer Hits Wu-Tang Clan With $1 Million Lawsuit

The story of the Wu-Tang Clan's ultra-rare Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album keeps taking bizarre turns.

Finally free from the clutches of Martin Shkreli's cold hands, the only copy of the album is now the property of the United States government, and its fate is at the whim of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. According to documents obtained by The Blast, the album is also the subject of a new lawsuit. 

A photographer named Warren Patterson claims that he shot photos of the album's infamous silver case back in 2013 and 2014, but he was never paid for his work. One of his photos was used for an album cover, but Patterson alleges that he had no idea that was the plan—nor did he give the group permission to do so. He says he spent over 80 hours shooting the photos.

The lawsuit states, "the infringing copies of the Plaintiff’s works [were] delivered to a law office in New York County, New York by mail or courier service to be picked up by a purchaser named Martin Shkreli."

The Blast reports that Patterson's copyright infringement lawsuit seeks over $1 million in damages and Wu-Tang's Method Man, RZA, Raekwon, Cappadonna, Ghostface Killah, GZA, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, and U-God are all named as defendants.

Wu-Tang representatives have not commented on the lawsuit outside of a rep for Method Man who told The Blast, "Method Man did not select nor authorize the photography used on the Wu-Tang album."

This is the second time in the past few weeks that the group has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit. In March, members of the Diplomats (the '60s soul group, not Dipset) filed a lawsuit against the Wu-Tang Clan over their 2017 song “People Say,” claiming that the melody was lifted from their 1969 record "I've Got the Kind of Love." Sounds like it's about to be a busy summer for Wu-Tang's legal team.

[via COMPLEX]

U-God Reportedly Bringing $2.5 Million Lawsuit Against Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Tang Clan might be something to fuck with after all.

Wu member U-God is apparently not too happy with the way the group has been distributing its royalties. Namely that he hasn't been getting any. According to a report from TMZ, U-God is bringing a $2.5 million lawsuit against the group, alleging that he hasn't received his royalty payment on 12 of the Wu-Tang Clan's albums for the past six years. On top of that, he reportedly hasn't been paid the two percent he's owed from merchandise sales either. According to the report, he's particularly angry with RZA, who pulls many of the strings for the group.

He also claims that he hasn't seen a cent of the record-setting $2 million sale of the group's new album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. The one-of-a-kind album was sold to pharma bro Martin Shkreli in 2015. Shkreli actually played snippets of the album for his Periscope followers earlier this month to celebrate the presidential victory of Donald Trump.

Altogether, U-God is reportedly claiming that he's owed at least $2.5 million due to several alleged breaches of contract. He's also looking for a full audit of the Wu-Tang Clan's financials so that everyone can understand exactly where the money comes and goes.

The group has a long and complicated history of financial infighting. U-God left and rejoined the group over issues with RZA before. Ghostface Killah once sued for unpaid royalties, and RZA and Raekwon have also had a very public rivalry. We'll have to wait and see how the latest lawsuit turns out.

[via COMPLEX]

Martin Shkreli Was Dropped From the Wu-Tang Clan Illustration Lawsuit

Back in February, a strange lawsuit was brought against both Martin Shkreli andRZA of the Wu-Tang Clan surrounding the much-hyped, one-of-a-kind album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. A Long Island-based artist named Jason Koza sued both parties after discovering that some of his illustrations were used in the leather booklet that accompanies the album without his permission. Although he had been contacted about possibly contributing artwork to the album, he claimed nothing was ever finalized and that he did not know his work would make the final version.

Now, it looks like Shkreli caught a lucky break. According to a report from Billboard, he has officially been dropped from the lawsuit. Although he was only a secondary figure in the suit—which claimed he was partially responsible since he had purchased the album and shown it off to a Vice reporter in a video interview—it's nonetheless very good news for him. "Mr. Shkreli did not agree to any conditions or pay any form of settlement in exchange for being dismissed from the case," his lawyer said to Billboard. "In our view it is likely that Mr. Koza recognized that he would be unable to maintain an infringement claim against Mr. Shkreli in light of the fair use doctrine."

The invocation of the "Fair Use Doctrine" is probably key to his dismissal. Media companies retain the right to use and publish parts of a work when they are reporting on or critiquing it. As such, Shkreli showing the artwork off to a reporter, even if its use was unauthorized to begin with, probably wouldn't constitute any kind of copyright violation. While he remains one of the most hated people in America, it looks pretty unlikely that he'll be shelling out any cash in this case. RZA and the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan's legal fate remains to be seen.

[via COMPLEX]