Pharrell Williams is in a legal dispute with Pink after she filed a legal action against him trying to secure a trademark on the term "P.Inc."
On Thursday, Pink's attorneys filed an action claiming that the federal trademark Pharrell is trying to lock in is too close to her stage name and that it will "cause confusion, mistake and/or deception" amongst people. Her company, Lefty Paw Print, filed the case against Pharrell's PW IP Holdings.
According to Pharrell's lawyers, he's looking to use the "P.Inc" trademark for "promotional marketing services in the field of music". PW IP Holdings filed an application for the federal trademark last year. However, they had already been facing a legal dispute with Victoria's Secret, which uses the word "Pink" in its products.
Victoria's Secret filed its case against Pharrell last month with a similar argument that claimed consumers would be confused.
"Opposer's use of its 'Victoria's Secret PINK' and 'PINK' marks predates applicant's filing date," the company's lawyers wrote in a March 21 filing. "Applicant's mark is highly similar to, and is the phonetic equivalent of, opposer's 'PINK' marks."
The new legal issue is the latest one for Pharell since Chad Hugo, his longtime friend, filed a similar trademark action over the name of their production group, The Neptunes. As reported by Billboard, Hugo accused Pharrell of attempting to "fraudulently" claim sole ownership over the name rights for The Neptunes.
"Throughout their over thirty year history, [Hugo] and Williams agreed to, and in fact, have divided all assets," said Hugo's attorney Kenneth D. Freundlich. "By ignoring and excluding [Hugo] from the any and all applications filed by applicant for the mark 'The Neptunes,' applicant has committed fraud in securing the trademarks and acted in bad faith."
In response, a representative for Pharrell said he was "surprised" over Hugo's legal action. "We have reached out on multiple occasions to share in the ownership and administration of the trademark and will continue to make that offer," said his representative. "The goal here was to make sure a third party doesn't get a hold of the trademark and to guarantee Chad and Pharrell share in ownership and administration."
