A Music Industry Trademark Fight

The music industry is never without it's share of accusations, confrontations, quarrels and conflicts.  From the recent controversial Twitter discussion between Taylor Swift and Nicki Manaj, to the ongoing beef between Drake and Meek Mill, there are enough battles to entertain audiences on the sidelines for a lifetime. And they are all in the open, in the grand social media boxing ring, with ringside photographers, bloggers and journalists recording, sharing and digitally distributing every punch of every bout.

Fortunately, there is a lot to be learnt about our intellectual property rights from these disputes, mostly thanks to the fact that infringement has been the subject of several industry lawsuits.

Here is one music industry fight that teaches us a bit about trademarks:

We all know Pharrell Williams and his famed song "Happy".  Back in 2013, he attempted to trademark I Am Other, created by himself as a "creative venture and way of life". According to the I Am Other website, this brand promotes the philosophy of difference and individuality as "the new wealth". He was met with legal action, filed by Black Eyed Peas' singer Will.I.am., who claimed that the was the owner of the phrase "I am" and that Pharrell's logo was "confusingly similar".

A trademark can consist of words, phrases, names, letters, numbers, designs, packaging, shapes, and can be a combination of these things.  However, a trademark that consists of a combination of words does not give rise to an exclusive right to use each of the individual words. So the trademark Will-i-am, does not  give that artist the exclusive right to use the words "I" or "am", whether separately or together. There are several other artists who use the phrase "I Am" in their names, without having caused any confusion between their identities. According to Rolling Stone, this point was argued on Pharrell's behalf in the court documents. This dispute was settled out of court, hopefully in Pharrell's favour.