Robinhood Seeks to Dismiss Ice Cube's Complaint

​Robinhood, a leading trading platform, has responded to the lawsuit over the use of Ice Cube's image and filed a motion to dismiss the complaint.

Ice Cube is an American rapper, actor, and filmmaker. He alleges that in March 2021, while the US online trading platform, which has recently submitted IPO paperwork for regulatory approval​, was hit by a meltdown, Robinhood and its subsidiary have used his image and likeness to promote "terrible products and services" without his permission.

In particular, the defendants published a Snacks newsletter titled "Why are tech stock falling?" on March 8, 2021, which leads with a photograph and the slogan, "correct yourself, before you wreck yourself". Ice Cube alleges that the photograph portrays his image and likeness, and the slogan is a misquote of the lyric from one of his songs.

However, in its response, Robinhood concludes that "Ice Cube filed the action looking for publicity and without regard for the merits of his claims" based on the following facts:

· The Article does not even mention the plaintiff's stage name. Additionally, the referenced trademark the plaintiff registered at the federal level never appears in the Article.

· The plaintiff does not identify his loss or other particular damage caused by the defendants' alleged misconduct, even though he is required to do so to establish standing in accordance with both federal and state law. The plaintiff fails to plead any injury that is both concrete and particularized.

· The plaintiff does not explain how the aforementioned Article explicitly misleads consumers. In the Complaint, he does not give any facts to demonstrate that the Article gives the misimpression that the Plaintiff sponsors, endorses, or is affiliated with the Defendants.

· The Article provides news updates on an important matter of public concern (i.e. the stock market), and it has a noncommercial nature. It does not explicitly mislead consumers, as it does not affirmatively represent that the Plaintiff is in any way affiliated with the Defendants' news reports. In fact, the article never even mentions the Plaintiff's actual or character name. Therefore, no reasonable consumer would interpret the comical nature of the reference as suggesting any such relationship.

Robinhood has just expanded its physical presence with new office in Charlotte. Early this month, the platform reported a sharp rise in the number of cryptocurrency traders​ in the first quarter of 2021, as Fazzaco reported previously.