Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are battling out.
The producers who formed the songwriting duo The Neptunes are in a legal dispute over the group’s name, after Chad accused Pharrell of “fraudulently” seeking sole control over the trademarks, via Billboard.
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The Neptunes crafted songs for everyone from Nelly to Gwen Stefani to Justin Timberlake in the early ’00s. The duo have been friends since childhood, and were just inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.
Attorneys for Chad accused Pharrell and his company of attempting to register trademarks for The Neptunes name, which they say violates their longstanding agreement to split everything equally.
“Throughout their over thirty year history, [Hugo] and Williams agreed to, and in fact, have divided all assets,” wrote Chad‘s attorney Kenneth D. Freundlich, a prominent music industry litigator. “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.”
A rep for Pharrell said there had been no ill-intent in a statement to Billboard: “Pharrell is surprised by this. 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.”
There are three separate applications to register “The Neptunes” as a trademark: one covering the use of the name on streaming music, another for music videos and other content, and a third for live performances. They were filed in 2022 by PW IP Holdings LLC, Pharrell’s company.
In his legal filings last week, Chad’s attorneys argued that Pharrell had “knowingly and intentionally” filed those applications without required input from Chad, even though he was “fully aware” that either Chad or their partnership entity should have been listed as a co-owner: “Nothing, either written or oral, provided Williams or [PW IP Holdings] with the unilateral authority to register the trademarks.”
Pharrell Williams was also being called out by another music star recently.
