Sydney (AFP)

Famous rapper Jay-Z pursues a small Australian merchant website for using his name and one of his songs in children's books, according to an Australian newspaper.

Shawn Carter, better known by his stage name Jay-Z, filed a lawsuit in the Australian federal court on November 22, accusing The Little Homie of violating intellectual property rights.

The Australian daily The Age said Tuesday that, according to the singer's lawyers, the company has taken advantage of the singer's image and used the lyrics of his song "99 Problems".

Little Homie offers for purchase a learning book and a coloring book for children, whose title is "AB to Jay-Z".

The back cover of these two ABCs, which are called "hip-hop inspiration", takes up some of the words of the famous song of the American rapper, according to a photo of these books posted on the website The Little Homie.

On each page of these books is a portrait of a hip-hop star and that of Jay-Z appears on the last page, to illustrate the letter Z.

According to The Age, the rapper asked the company to stop the sale of these books in March 2018 but the latter continued "deliberately and knowingly" to use his portrait and his words.

The use of the rapper's name, image and words "was calculated to injure, injure and continue to damage Mr. Carter's reputation and goodwill," the prosecution submits.

The commercial site has not yet filed a defense and his lawyers have not wanted to comment, as the lawyers Jay-Z.

The case is scheduled for a first hearing on December 6.

© 2019 AFP