{"id":2368,"date":"2024-08-23T15:15:18","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T15:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/outkast-lawsuit-claims-edm-duo-atliens-infringed-song-name\/"},"modified":"2024-08-23T15:15:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T15:15:18","slug":"outkast-lawsuit-claims-edm-duo-atliens-infringed-song-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/outkast-lawsuit-claims-edm-duo-atliens-infringed-song-name\/","title":{"rendered":"OutKast Lawsuit Claims EDM Duo ATLiens Infringed Song Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tOutKast<\/a> has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against an electronic dance music duo called ATLiens \u2013 the same name as one of the iconic hip hop duo\u2019s best-known songs.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a lawsuit lodged Tuesday in Georgia federal court, lawyers for Big Boi<\/a> (Antwan Patton<\/strong>) and Andr\u00e9 3000 (Andr\u00e9 Benjamin<\/strong>) argue that the name (a combo of \u201caliens\u201d and their hometown of Atlanta) is a novel linguistic term \u2013 and that the rival group is confusing music fans by using it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe word ATLiens was invented by OutKast. Before OutKast created it, it was not used in the cultural lexicon and did not exist,\u201d the group wrote. \u201cDefendant\u2019s use of the ATLiens mark is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReleased in 1996, ATLiens<\/em> is OutKast\u2019s second studio album, featuring the same-name song as one of the singles from the LP. The album spent 33 weeks on the Billboard 200, while the song itself reached No. 35 on the Hot 100 and spent 17 weeks on the chart.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe track, well-received at the time, is \u201cone of OutKast\u2019s most well-known and well-regarded songs,\u201d the lawsuit claims, and the duo \u201ccontinues to perform \u2018ATLiens\u2019 at nearly all (if not every single one) of its full-length live performances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to the group\u2019s lawyers, the rival ATLiens started using their name in 2012 and later registered the name as a trademark. In the suit, Outkast appears to claim that they did not know about the other dance group until recently.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn accusing the EDM duo of infringement, OutKast says the two names are \u201cidentical\u201d and used for largely the same thing \u2013 musical duos from Atlanta who perform in \u201crelated musical genres.\u201d The lawsuit even claims that, thanks to the rival group\u2019s stage costumes, fans might literally think they\u2019re Big Boi and Andr\u00e9 3000.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe duo comprising defendant performs with masks on, thereby concealing their identities such that consumers will mistakenly believe that the members of Defendant are one and the same with \u2013 or at least somehow connected to \u2013 plaintiff,\u201d lawyers for OutKast write.<\/p>\n

\n\tOutKast says it attempted to \u201cnegotiate an amicable resolution to the dispute\u201d but that ATLiens has continued to use the name in confusing ways \u2013 like a poster for an upcoming show in Atlanta that allegedly riffs on a similar poster used by OutKast.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cManagement for OutKast has already received communications from third-parties querying whether OutKast was affiliated with defendant\u2019s upcoming show,\u201d the group\u2019s lawyers write.<\/p>\n

\n\tReps for ATLiens did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn technical terms, the case was filed by High Schoolers LLC, a holding company owned by Big Boi and Andr\u00e9 3000 that controls OutKast\u2019s trademarks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OutKast has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against an electronic dance music duo called ATLiens \u2013 the same name as one of the iconic hip hop duo\u2019s best-known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3135,300,3134,3133,3136,303,3132,986],"class_list":["post-2368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-atliens","tag-claims","tag-duo","tag-edm","tag-infringed","tag-lawsuit","tag-outkast","tag-song"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368","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=2368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}