Earlier this year it was announced that Tupac Shakur’s trust filed three suits in California state court against the legendary late rapper’s aunt, a memorabilia dealer and a documentary filmmaker, seeking to prevent commercial exploitation of photographs, video footage and personal items, including Tupac’s passport, per law360.com.
The suit against Gobi M. Rahimi, a documentary filmmaker who worked with Tupac late in his life, alleges he is exploiting video and photographic footage taken in the months before Tupac’s death without paying the trust its share of the proceeds.
Rahimi calls the lawsuit against him “nonsense,” and in his response, he notes that he owes them NOTHING because the photos and video footage in his possession were not owned by Tupac’s production company, thus the estate isn’t owed a dime.
Rahimi says the estate’s claims are barred because the late Afeni Shakur abandoned any right to the footage — pointing out he even has a valid copyright for the work.
Afeni inherited her son’s personal property and items after he died in a shooting in Las Vegas in 1996 at age 25. Now her trust is handled by trustee Tom Whalley, the plaintiff in all three suits.
Rahimi counter-sued the estate demanding a court order stating he is the true owner of the footage, and he wants the trust’s case against him to be dismissed.
As thejasminebrand notes of the backstory: per a deal reached in 1996, Tupac owned 60 percent in a production company and Tracy Robinson owned 40 percent, but she gave one-half of her 40 percent to Rahimi. The footage in question was shot for use of Tupac’s company.
The estate’s suit accuses the filmmaker of trying to cut them out of the profits and wrongfully exploiting the assets without paying up — a violation of Tupac’s right of publicity.
PHOTO: AP
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