Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo locked in legal battle over the rights to using The Neptunes name
Longtime collaborators Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are embroiled in a legal battle over the rights to the name of their musical tandem, The Neptunes.
Hugo, 50, said in court filings last week that Pharrell, 50, “fraudulently” tried to gain full control of the band’s name and trademarks. Billboard reported Monday.
Hugo’s legal team said in documents filed with a federal tribunal that Pharrell wanted to register trademarks for the name The Neptunes without Hugo’s involvement, contrary to a professional pact they made in the past to split everything down the middle.
“Throughout their more than 30-year history, (Hugo) and Williams have agreed to, and in fact have divided, all assets,” Hugo’s attorney Kenneth D. Freundlich said in legal documents reviewed by the newspaper.
Freundlich said that “by ignoring and excluding (Hugo) from all applications filed by the applicant for the mark ‘The Neptunes’, the applicant committed fraud in securing the trademarks and acted in bad faith.”
Pharrell Williams, 50, and longtime collaborator Chad Hugo, 50, are embroiled in a legal battle over the rights to the name of their musical tandem, The Neptunes
Pharrell’s rep told Billboard in a statement that the Happy artist was “surprised by this” lawsuit, as he and his team “have reached out multiple times to share in the ownership and management of the trademark and will continue to make that offer .
“The goal here was to ensure that a third party does not obtain the trademark and to guarantee Chad and Pharrell’s share of ownership and control.”
The paperwork Pharrell filed suggested otherwise, Freundlich told Billboard in a response statement.
“If Pharrell’s intention was to include Chad in the filing, he should have registered it under the name of their joint company Neptunes, LLC and not his own name,” Freundlich said. “This was a land grab in a long-simmering dispute that has yet to be resolved.”
According to Hugo’s legal team, Pharrell’s company PW IP Holdings LLC attempted to trademark the name “The Neptunes” for streaming purposes three times in 2022; music videos and additional content; and live shows, Billboard reported.
Pharrell uses the company PW IP Holdings LLC for other business activities, including his music group NERD; his hotel, The Goodtime Hotel: South Beach Miami Hotel; and other brands it endorses.
Hugo’s legal team told the court that Pharrell had “knowingly and deliberately” made the trio of requests without contacting Hugo, despite being “fully aware” that Hugo should have been named as a partner in the paperwork.
“Nothing, written or oral, gave Williams or (PW IP Holdings) the unilateral authority to register the trademarks,” Hugo’s lawyers told the court, noting that Pharrell and his team have been warned “repeatedly” about the issue .
Hugo’s legal team said in documents filed with a federal tribunal that Pharrell wanted to register trademarks for the name The Neptunes without Hugo’s involvement, contrary to a professional pact they made in the past to keep everything in the middle to divide.
In June 2002, Pharrell and Hugo were indicted before the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York.
Pharrell has “admitted” that Hugo is “equally co-owner of the trademarks” and promised to involve him, according to Hugo’s lawyer.
Hugo’s legal team said Pharrell’s business partners presented Hugo with “tough business terms” when it came to control and finances.
Prior to his breakthrough as a solo artist, Pharrell and Hugo – who formed a friendship as children – formed a production tandem responsible for a number of pop hits more than two decades ago.
They include Nelly’s 2002 hit Hot in Herre, Justin Timberlake’s 2002 song Rock Your Body, Gwen Stefani’s 2004 song Hollaback Girl and Snoop Dogg’s 2004 song Drop It Like It’s Hot.
In June 2002, the pair were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which Pharrell said was “a tremendous honor.” Rebellion TV.
“The immense sense of gratitude that I feel probably takes over everything in terms of just being in it,” Pharrell said in a red carpet interview. ‘I fail at that because I always have delayed reactions, so in two to three days I will say who I was really in the room with, like the Eurythmics and Ronald Isley.
“It’ll probably be clear to me by then, but right now it’s kind of like, ‘Oh wow.’
Ny Breaking.com has reached out to Pharrell’s representatives for comment on this story.