Rappers Drake and 21 Savage are being sued by Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue in relation to using the Vogue name for the promotion of their collaborative album ‘Her Loss’.
During the days building up to the release of their album both Drake and 21 Savage shared a picture on their Instagram of a fake Vogue cover which featured both of them – this was later distributed in physical copies. This lead Condé Nast to file a lawsuit on behalf of Vogue alleging that the creation of counterfeit copies of the Vogue magazine violated their trade mark rights.
Condé Nast is now seeking at least $4 million in damages or triple any profits from the album and the fake vogue issues.
Court proceedings
After the first court proceedings, both Drake and 21 Savage were ordered to immediately refrain from using Vogue’s trade mark protected name to promote their album until at least the 22nd of November when both parties are expected to be in court in relation to a long term preliminary injunction.
The Judge said that Condé Nast has a likelihood of success in relation to the counterfeiting of the Vogue magazine cover which contained the Vogue mark as well as the distribution of said counterfeits. The Judge further said that the actions of the Defendants are confusing the consumers in relation to the origin of the cover which means that they are unable to determine if the counterfeit Vogue cover is genuine or not.
Condé Nast specifically highlighted the media posts as the user comments suggested that consumers are confused in relation to the authenticity of the cover as many believed that it was real.
The courts have instructed both Drake and 21 Savage to take down and remove all existing internet and social media posts that contain any deceptions or references to the counterfeit magazine covers. In relation to the physical copies, they are required to remove from public display all existing physical posters to make sure that they are no longer in circulation.
Conclusion
It can be suggested that this is a calculated risks by the artists as even though the courts have instructed the counterfeit to be removed, the damage has already been done due to the attention the counterfeit has received as both Drake and 21 Savage have a combined social media following of 135 million followers.
It is possible that the rappers could face similar lawsuits as they have made parody content such as attempting to take part in NPR Tiny Desk concert and a performance on Saturday Night Live.
By Abhiraj Aujla, an LLM Student at Solent University
