Pharrell Williams and his longtime partner Chad Hugo are currently in a legal rift over using the name of their musical band The Neptunes.
The 50-year-old record producer said in his court documents last week that the Happy hitmaker is “fraudulently” trying to get the rights of the name and trademark.
According to Billboard, Chad’s legal team accused Pharell of trying to register trademarks for “The Neptunes” name without his involvement, which breaches their professional contract.
“Throughout their over thirty year history, [Hugo] and Williams agreed to, and in fact, have divided all assets,” Chad’s lawyer Kenneth D. Freundlich said in the filing.
Kenneth added that by ignoring and excluding his client from any application files means that Pharrell has “committed fraud” in securing the trademarks and “acted in bad faith.”
On the other hand, the 50-year-old singer’s rep told Billboard that he’s “surprised” by the lawsuit because his team has reached out to Chad several times and offered him the ownership and administration of the trademark.
“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,” the rep claimed, adding that Pharell will continue to make the offer.
