Will.i.am is suing Pharrell Williams over "I am"

[Cupe]

I.am suing you – Pharrell Williams feels the wrath of Will.i.am

Will.i.am, one of the judges on BBC talent show The Voice, is suing fellow US pop music star Pharrell Williams over his use of the phrase “I am” .

Mr Williams set up his own “i am OTHER” brand to promote talent online and said he was searching for a “diverse group of optimistic, bright minds”.

But Will.i.am, real name William James Adams, took exception and filed a lawsuit claiming that he owns the copyright to the phrase “I AM” and that Pharrell's logo is “confusingly similar” to his “i.am+” iPhone camera add-on, according to court documents.

The “registration of the mark.. is likely to dilute the I AM mark and the will.i.am mark”, the documents claim.

Pharrell Williams told Rolling Stone magazine: “I am disappointed that Will, a fellow artist, would file a case against me. I am someone who likes to talk things out and, in fact, I attempted to do just that on many occasions.

”I am surprised in how this is being handled and I am confident that Will's trademark claims will ultimately be found to be as meritless and ridiculous as I do.“

Will.i.am, founder of the hip hop band The Black Eyed Peas, has recently faced accusations of copyright infringement himself after producers Arty and Mat Zo accused him of sampling their song “Rebound” without their permission on his latest recording with singer Chris Brown.

[yizzle]

will.i.am ©'s 'i am'

nek min, cant say "i am in love' in a song or have a clothing label 'I am music merch' without royalties or sued.

[mattus123]

surely this cant even go through

'i am' is a common phrase, will.i.am didnt create it

[yizzle]

do his lawyers agree?

[yizzle]

this legal shit can get really problematic.

companies for a long time have copyrighted sounds, smells & colours.

might seem stupid to us, but its something you will prob face in the future being creative and 'putting it out there' with no consent from the 'owners'

[edit] epically is it makes money

[russell]

will.i.am.a.cock

[yizzle]

^

[mattus123]

this legal shit can get really problematic.

companies for a long time have copyrighted sounds, smells & colours.

might seem stupid to us, but its something you will prob face in the future being creative and 'putting it out there' with no consent from the 'owners'

[edit] epically is it makes money

true

but i know that if something becomes common phrase, u cant hold trademark rights of it

eg. the 'esky'... esky is the brandname, but now days people refer to the invention as an 'esky'. As a result, the brand esky lost trademark rights to 'esky'

another example is the escalator

surely its a similar case with Will.I.Am?

[Cupe]

Surely he's a fucking idiot and this is a joke.

Nothing will come of it but more bad publicity.

Even if it's his legal team pursuing it against his wishes, it's all bad

[OxyKon]

But Will.i.am, real name William James Adams, took exception and filed a lawsuit claiming that he owns the copyright to the phrase “I AM” and that Pharrell's logo is “confusingly similar” to his “i.am+” iPhone camera add-on, according to court documents.

Will.i.am, founder of the hip hop band The Black Eyed Peas, has recently faced accusations of copyright infringement himself after producers Arty and Mat Zo accused him of sampling their song “Rebound” without their permission on his latest recording with singer Chris Brown.

these 2 quotes pretty much sum it all up, Will is getting sued himself and see's that Pharrell is copying him with his logo, he just doesn't want to lose money, as they would say

Hollywoodpolotics.jpg

aka, they're dicks

[GREMM1S]

Fuck off will.iam you dickhead.

[russell]

will.i.steal: A Timeline of Tracks Stolen by will.i.am

http://soundisstyle.com/2013/04/will-i- ... -i-am.html

A bit of me died when I heard the Daft Punk robbery..... Thank god they said no. Not like they would ever say yes cos it's beyond fuckin shit.

[eggssell]

hey daft punk ripped off warren g so they cant talk

[eggssell]

anyways.

ontopic. i think words can hold trademark in US.

i remember hearing the story pat riley (coach extraordinaire) coined the phrase three peat thinking his lakers would get to win three championships in a row (they didnt).

anyways three years later. the bulls get a three peat. and he ended up suing everyone who cashed in on the phrase (through merch).

and lucky for him phil jackson would get three peats two more times in the next decade. so earned a pretty sum

[russell]

hey daft punk ripped off warren g so they cant talk

Daft punk have sampled a shit load of people in their career. They done it well though and got permission.

keep in mind they obviously liked Kanye West's and that other Busta Rhymes track that used Daft Punk sampels.

This one is just shit

[eggssell]

hey daft punk ripped off warren g so they cant talk

Daft punk have sampled a shit load of people in their career. They done it well though and got permission.

keep in mind they obviously liked Kanye West's and that other Busta Rhymes track that used Daft Punk sampels.

This one is just shit

nope they didnt sample warren g, nor claimed interpolation. I think people are claiming pure coincidence. but i dont know... from day one of hearing the song i already thought i know this melody (assuming they sampled)

[russell]

Yeah i didn't say they sampled it, ripped it off or anything. I don't have an opinion on that really as I've only listened to the daft punk album once and can't say I noticed it.

[GREMM1S]

Irrelevant anyway as daft are noted for their sampling.

Plus warren g is a faggot.

[eggssell]

sampling means to take someone elses piece of music and use it your in your own.

taking someone elses melody and then claiming it as your own without credit is ripping someone off.

and warren g is a legend who brought us gfunk. make no mistake dre made it famous. but it was warren g's sound.

oh and i dont really think they meant to steal it. maybe they just had the tune ringing in their head. or maybe kanye was playing it while they were all holed up at the paris hotel. and they "accidentally" walked away with it in their head. i mean it is a great tune

[eggssell]

haha no idea how but i just came across this quote from daft punk. so obviously they are influenced by warren g and maybe subconciously used it. this is from a 1997 interview with Bangalter talking about the Da Funk single

"It was around the time Warren G.'s "Regulate" was released and we wanted to make some sort of gangsta-rap and tried to murk our sounds as much as possible. However no one has ever compared it to hip-hop. We've heard that the drums sounds like Queen and The Clash, the melody is reminiscent of Giorgio Moroder, and the synthesizers sound like electro and thousand of other comparisons. No one agree with us that it sounds like hip-hop"[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Funk