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Now Pharrell's attorney has accused will.i.am of "revisionist history" over this 'I AM' business

  • June 28, 2013
  • Brad O'Mance

will.i.amAccording to Rolling Stone, this amusing legal spat between will.i.am and Pharrell has taken another twist after Pharrell's attorney called Mr i.am's tweets denying he was suing Williams "revi­sion­ist history".

Basically, following will's tweets yesterday his lawyer Ken Hertz released a statement reit­er­at­ing that his client wasn't suing Pharrell but that it was a "run-of-the-mill trademark procedure" in order to "defend trade­marks that have been registered and that [will.i.am] has used widely and con­tinu­ously for many years."

"We own a trademark," Hertz continued, in reference to the words I and Am. "They have applied for a trademark. We think their proposed trademark is too close to our registered and common law trade­marks. They disagree. We hope to work out a sensible com­prom­ise that will allow both parties to move forward without unne­ces­sary acrimony."

So then Pharrell's attorney, Brad Rose, had this to say about everything:

"The state­ments made by Will and his advisors over the past two days amount to revi­sion­ist history in the face of the public con­dem­na­tion against Will that has resulted after this story broke yesterday. "The plain truth is that Will has obstruc­ted every overture made by Pharrell to amicably resolve this matter and has stead­fastly refused to engage in a dialogue. Will and his trademark counsel have insti­tuted no less than eight cases against Pharrell in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and have also threatened on more than one occasion to sue Pharrell for trademark infringe­ment in Federal District Court for damages and an injunc­tion. All of this because Will mis­guidedly believes that he has the sole right to the words I AM in commerce, not­with­stand­ing the myriad of I Am compound trade­marks that coexist on the trademark register and in the marketplace."

It's all a bit silly really.

  • pharrell
  • will.i.am
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  • June 28, 2013
  • Darren Sharp
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Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky' is the first single released in 2013 to sell over a million copies in the UK

  • June 28, 2013
  • Brad O'Mance
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    Congratulations to Charli XCX and Lorde: winners of the 2024 Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize
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    Fine, let's do a Substack then.
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    The 2022 Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize: shortlist
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    2021 Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize: Laura Mvula wins
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