Velvet Underground Settle Dispute Over Andy Warhol Album Image
The Velvet Underground have settled a legal dispute with the Andy Warhol Foundation over the rights to use the famous banana cover Warhol designed for the band’s 1967 album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, the BBC reports.
The dispute has its origins in 2009 when the Warhol Foundation – which owns the artist’s copyrights – claimed the Velvet Underground had infringed on their copyright by licensing the iconic banana design. The band, however, countered that the image was a band trademark, and sued last January after they discovered the Warhol Foundation had licensed the image for a line of iPhone cases.
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Back in September, U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan dismissed part of the Velvet Underground’s initial claim when she ruled that they did not have a valid copyright claim on the image; at the time, however, she did not rule on who actually owned the image.
In the suit, the band sought both damages and an injunction to stop the Warhol Foundation from licensing the image in the future; but the terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The trial was set to begin on July 29th.