Excessive Schoolers LLC, a trademark holding firm managed by Outkast’s André 3000 and Big Boi, has filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to the Atlanta digital dance music duo ATLiens. Within the lawsuit, obtained by Pitchfork, legal professionals for the LLC declare that Outkast coined the time period “ATLiens,” and that they’ve utilized it and owned the trademark for it since 1996. The EDM duo, the legal professionals declare, has infringed on the Outkast trademark and been utilizing the trademark with out authorization.
Within the grievance, the legal professionals say that the band ATLiens registered for his or her trademark in 2020, claiming that they’d used the identify since 2012—lengthy after the 1996 launch of Outkast’s beloved second studio album, ATLiens. The attorneys argue that the competing trademark “is stopping Plaintiff [High Schoolers LLC] from with the ability to get hold of registrations for its senior ATLIENS mark.”
Additionally they allege that the duo selected its identify “to commerce upon the great fame and goodwill related to Plaintiff’s ATLIENS album, music, and mark, or, at a minimal, to name to shoppers’ minds Plaintiff’s well-known ATLIENS album, music, and mark.”
Via the lawsuit, the LLC and its attorneys are asking the Georgia federal court docket to forestall the band ATLiens from utilizing the “ATLiens” trademark. They’re additionally asking for the cancellation of the duo’s competing trademark, amongst different requests.
When reached by Pitchfork, attorneys Abigail J. Remore and Peter E. Nussbaum shared the next assertion on behalf of Excessive Schoolers LLC and André 3000: “It is a fundamental model safety situation. Efforts to resolve this matter amicably have been sadly unsuccessful and Outkast due to this fact needed to file swimsuit in an effort to defend the precious identify and trademark ATLIENS that it created and has repeatedly used for almost 30 years.”
Pitchfork has additionally emailed an lawyer for ATLiens Touring Inc. for remark.
