{"id":1320,"date":"2024-06-12T19:42:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T19:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/drakes-members-only-tour-merch-violates-trademarks-lawsuit-claims\/"},"modified":"2024-06-12T19:42:13","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T19:42:13","slug":"drakes-members-only-tour-merch-violates-trademarks-lawsuit-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/drakes-members-only-tour-merch-violates-trademarks-lawsuit-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake’s ‘Members Only’ Tour Merch Violates Trademarks, Lawsuit Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tDrake\u2019s production company is facing a lawsuit from the apparel brand Members Only for allegedly selling tour merch that infringed the company\u2019s trademarks.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe case, filed Tuesday (June 12) in New York federal court, claims that Drake\u2019s company (Away From Home Touring Inc.) has been selling t-shirts, including on his recently-wrapped It\u2019s All a Blur Tour, that are emblazoned with the words \u201cMembers Only.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo be clear, the lawsuit doesn\u2019t claim Drake is selling counterfeit Members Only jackets \u2014 the iconic 1980s fad the company made famous. Drake\u2019s shirts feature that phrase (written in large script across the front) simply because it\u2019s the name of a track on his 2023 album For All the Dogs<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in its complaint filed in federal court, the current owner of the Members Only brand (JR Apparel World LLC) says it doesn\u2019t matter why Drake\u2019s company opted to put their name on a shirt \u2014 only that he did so.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe fact that \u2018Members Only\u2019 is a song on Drake\u2019s album \u2018For All the Dogs\u2019 does not obviate the likelihood of confusion or give [him] a license to use our client\u2019s \u2018Members Only\u2019 marks in such a confusing manner, particularly on or in connection with apparel items,\u201d the company\u2019s lawyers write.<\/p>\n

\n\tCalling \u201cMembers Only\u201d a \u201cfamous household name,\u201d the lawsuit claims that Drake\u2019s shirts are going to confuse fans into thinking the real Members Only brand is somehow involved: \u201cAway From Home\u2019s use of \u2018Members Only\u2019 \u2026 is likely to cause confusion, mistake, and deception among consumers as to the origin of Away From Home\u2019s infringing T-shirts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUnder U.S. trademark law, the context of how a brand name is used is crucial. Two companies can use the exact same name for different products and peacefully co-exist \u2014 think Delta Airlines and Delta Faucet, or Dove soap and Dove chocolate. But when used on the same types of products, a similar name can become trademark infringement.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Drake\u2019s case, his use of the \u201cMembers Only\u201d name as a song title almost certainly would not have infringed JR Apparel World rights \u2014 both because they\u2019re different products and because the First Amendment gives added protection to use trademarks in creative works like songs. But by using that same name on apparel, the lawsuit says, the legal calculus has changed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAway From Home sold \u2026 goods bearing the mark \u2018Members Only\u2019 that are identical, overlapping, and\/or highly similar to the goods that JR Apparel sells bearing its MEMBERS ONLY Marks,\u201d the company\u2019s attorneys write.<\/p>\n

\n\tA rep for Drake did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drake\u2019s production company is facing a lawsuit from the apparel brand Members Only for allegedly selling tour merch that infringed the company\u2019s trademarks. The case, filed Tuesday (June […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[300,401,303,1865,634,1866,1868,1867],"class_list":["post-1320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-claims","tag-drakes","tag-lawsuit","tag-members","tag-merch","tag-tour","tag-trademarks","tag-violates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}