New York duo Mobb Deep, comprised of the late emcee Prodigy and Havoc, and the streetwear clothing band has been sued by the band Sick Of It All for their latest collaboration, which, according to the band, features their dragon logo.
The lawsuit filed claims that Sick Of It All has the intellectual property rights to the design and is accusing Supreme and Mobb Deep of trademark infringement and unfair competition. The punk group recently released a Summer 2023 capsule collection of T-shirts and hats with a unique dragon design, and an identical one has now appeared.
The lawsuit filed at New York District Court by plaintiff record label Bush Baby Zamagate alleges that Supreme and Mobb Deep are guilty of “willful infringement and unfair competition” from “improper and illegal use of a nearly identical logo mark to Plaintiff’s inherently distinctive, incontestable, and famous logo.”
The lawsuit documents, obtained by Pitchfork, insist that the streetwear brand remove the logo “or any other mark or marks confusingly similar thereto and are asking that the New York district court prevent the defendants from receiving any revenue generated from sales of the stolen design.”
Summons have been issued, and Havoc, as well as representatives of Supreme, have three weeks to respond to the lawsuit and declare whether they are willing to fight the case in court or cease the production and sale of their latest collaboration.
Supreme announced that it would be releasing a collaborative line with Mobb Deep in June of this year, and the signature of the collaboration is a T-shirt with a dragon logo with the catchphrase “Drop a Gem on ‘Em” printed on the back. There are baseball caps with the same dragon logo featured prominently on the front.
Sick of It All claim that they have been using the very distinctive design since 1987 and has common law rights over the mark, which can be seen in the liner notes for the band’s 1989 album Blood, Sweat and No Tears, as well as on the cover of the 1991 EP We Stand Alone.