Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are in a legal dispute over the name rights for their production duo, The Neptunes.
Billboard reports that Hugo’s attorneys recently filed a lawsuit that claims that his long-time partner Williams of “fraudulently” seeking sole control over the trademarks and violating the previous agreement to split everything 50/50.
“Throughout their over thirty year history, [Hugo] and Williams agreed to, and in fact, have divided all assets,” says Hugo’s attorney Kenneth D. Freundlich. “By ignoring and excluding [Hugo] from the any and all applications filed by applicant for the mark ‘The Neptunes,’ applicant has committed fraud in securing the trademarks and acted in bad faith.”
“Pharrell is surprised by this,” said from a statement representing Pharrell. “We have reached out on multiple occasions to share in the ownership and administration of the trademark and will continue to make that offer. The goal here was to make sure a third party doesn’t get a hold of the trademark and to guarantee Chad and Pharrell share in ownership and administration.”
“If Pharrell’s intent was to include Chad in the filing, he should have registered it in the name of them jointly or as a partnership and not in his own name,” responded Freundlich. “This was a land grab in a long simmering dispute that has yet to be resolved.”
Since the 2000’s, The Neptunes spawned a slew of hit records from artists from JAY-Z, TI to Justin Timberlake, Kelis, and many more.