{"id":7803,"date":"2025-09-13T16:37:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T16:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/sued-over-chrome-hearts-by-brand-with-same-name\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T16:37:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T16:37:22","slug":"sued-over-chrome-hearts-by-brand-with-same-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/sued-over-chrome-hearts-by-brand-with-same-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Sued Over ‘Chrome Hearts’ By Brand With Same Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tA<\/span> year after Neil Young<\/a> launched a new backing band called The Chrome Hearts, the rock legend is now facing a surprising new problem: A trademark infringement lawsuit from a decades-old fashion brand with the exact same name.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe case, filed Thursday, comes from Chrome Hearts, a luxury brand that\u2019s been using that name since the late 1980s for apparel, jewelry and accessories. Its lawyers say the name of Young\u2019s new group \u2013 which debuted last year and released an album this summer \u2013 is clearly infringing the company\u2019s \u201cunique and valuable\u201d name.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cDefendants\u2019 continued use of the confusingly similar [Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts] name in commerce violates Chrome Hearts\u2019 valuable intellectual property rights,\u201d reads the lawsuit, obtained and first reported by Billboard<\/em>. \u201cDefendants have intentionally and knowingly capitalized off of confusion between the Chrome Hearts [trademarks] and the NYTCH name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor decades, Young has toured and recorded off-and-on with the band Crazy Horse, often under the name Neil Young and Crazy Horse. But last year, after he called that group\u2019s summer tour due to an unspecific illness in the band, he debuted out The Chrome Hearts <\/a>at FarmAid in September. The new group released its debut Talkin to the Trees<\/em> album in June, and has been on a world tour this summer.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was all apparently unwelcome news for Chrome Hearts, a Los Angeles-based brand that says it has sold apparel and other goods under that name \u2013 often written in a Gothic script with stylized cross \u2013 since 1988.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn its lawsuit this week, the company claimed that consumers are going to be confused by Young\u2019s new name \u2014 mostly by mistakenly believing that the fashion brand has launched an official sponsored collaboration with the iconic singer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe likelihood of confusion is not merely hypothetical,\u201d Chrome Hearts\u2019 lawyers write. \u201cSome clothing and apparel vendors have apparently already mistakenly assumed that there is a connection between NYTCH and Chrome Hearts, and are actively promoting [it.]\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTrademark law doesn\u2019t grant anyone an absolute monopoly on words, and it only protects a brand name to the extent that it\u2019s used on similar<\/em> goods or services in a way that confuses<\/em> consumers into falsely thinking there\u2019s a connection. That\u2019s why Delta Air Lines and Delta Faucet can both peacefully co-exist on completely different products.<\/p>\n

\n\tWould music fans really be misled into thinking there\u2019s connection to a fashion brand when they see \u201cChrome Hearts\u201d next to Neil Young\u2019s name on an album cover or a concert poster? That could be a difficult case for the company\u2019s lawyers to prove in court. But the use of \u201cChrome Hearts\u201d on band t-shirts and other similar merchandise might be a closer case.<\/p>\n

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\n\tTo support that crucial confusion argument, Chrome Hearts cites several previous collabs with musical artists, including The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Rihanna, Drake, Lou Reed and Cher. The company also says Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet wore a Chrome Hearts leather suit on a red carper last year while promoting his Bob Dylan biopic \u201cA Complete Unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Chrome Hearts brand has become iconic, especially in the fashion and music industries,\u201d the group\u2019s lawyers say. \u201cAnd that was the intention. From the very beginning, the company placed special emphasis on promoting the Chrome Hearts brand among and with the help of musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this summer, Chrome Hearts says it reached out to Young\u2019s team with a letter \u201crespectfully requesting\u201d that he stop using the name. But they say those efforts were unsuccessful \u2013 meaning the company \u201cis now forced to bring this complaint to protect its valuable and longstanding intellectual property rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit is seeking an injunction that would immediately force Young to stop using the Chrome Hearts name, which the group is currently using each night on its \u201cLove Earth Tour\u201d across Europe and North America. It is also seeking damages, though it did not specify how much.<\/p>\n

\n\tRepresentatives for Young and attorneys for Chrome Hearts did not immediately return requests for comment on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A year after Neil Young launched a new backing band called The Chrome Hearts, the rock legend is now facing a surprising new problem: A trademark infringement lawsuit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1497,4335,6777,412],"class_list":["post-7803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-brand","tag-chrome","tag-hearts","tag-sued"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7803","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=7803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}