Drake Faces Lawsuit Over ‘Members Only’ Tour Merch
Drake is back in the headlines and no, it’s not another series of diss tracks. The artist is being taken to court for using a phrase on his merchandise that also happens to be the name of a well-established apparel brand.
“Members Only” Slogan Causes Trouble
According to legal documents obtained by Billboard, the rapper is being sued over merch designs with the “Members Only” slogan. The plaintiff is listed as JR Apparel World LLC, a New York-based clothing company that owns Members Only.
The case also mentioned that the artist has sold the merchandise online as well as on his It’s All a Blur Tour which has the slogan on it. It’s worth mentioning that he is not being accused of distributing counterfeit products, considering the phrase in question is also the title of a song released on For All The Dogs last year.
Billboard report says that the brand’s current owners JR Apparel World LLC have argued “The fact that ‘Members Only’ is a song on Drake’s album ‘For All the Dogs’ does not obviate the likelihood of confusion or give [him] a license to use our client’s ‘Members Only’ marks in such a confusing manner, particularly on or in connection with apparel items.”
“Away From Home’s use of ‘Members Only’ … is likely to cause confusion, mistake, and deception among consumers as to the origin of Away From Home’s infringing T-shirts,” the claim continues.
Based on United States trademark law, the context of how the phrase has been used is key.
Drake’s decision to release a song titled “Members Only” doesn’t create confusion with the company of the same name, but selling merchandise with said words does because they’ve been selling the same items for decades now.
For that reason, Members Only has claimed that its status as a “famous household name” is being leveraged and distorted by Drake’s products.
The suit comes more than a year after Drake and 21 Savage settled another trademark lawsuit filed by Condé Nast. The publishing giant took issue with the rappers’ promotional stunts for their joint project Her Loss, specifically a faux Vogue issue featuring a Drake/21 cover and parody ads throughout.
“As a creative company, we of course understand our brands may from time to time be referenced in other creative works,” Condé Nast general counsel Will Bowes wrote after the settlement, as reported by Complex. “In this instance, however, it was clear to us that Drake and 21 Savage leveraged Vogue’s reputation for their own commercial purposes and, in the process, confused audiences who trust Vogue as the authoritative voice on fashion and culture.”