Bow Wow’s legal spat with Michael Mauldin has heated up as he has taken a subliminal jab at the plaintiff on social media.
Earlier this year, Jermaine Dupri‘s father sued the former So So Def signee for alleged trademark infringement. Court documents obtained by HipHopDX last week show that the veteran concert promoter is now asking for more time to serve the rapper and actor with a notice of complaint in the suit.
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Bow Wow was supposed to be notified of the suit within 90 days, but Mauldin says that the “Like You” hitmaker “has been thus far unattainable since the initial filing of the complaint on September 21, 2023, due to the refusal of service by Defendant’s counsel and the refusal of service at Defendant’s address in Atlanta, Georgia.”
On Friday (December 29), the 36-year-old hopped in the comments section of a Hollywood Unlocked Instagram post about the ordeal and wrote: “aye boyyy if it wasnt for jd….. [devil emoji]”
Bow Wow hits back at Jermaine Dupri’s dad over accusations of lawsuit delayshttps://t.co/3Yh0bOWXIA
(via hollywoodunlocked) pic.twitter.com/FBN8H8rMSe— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) December 30, 2023
In late September, Mauldin filed a lawsuit against Bow Wow for his use of the “Scream Tour” name. The 70-year-old producer, who was instrumental in fostering Dupri’s career, is laying claim to what’s known as “common law” trademark, which is why he’s suing the Ohio native as well as others.
A common law trademark is one that is “established solely through use in commerce in a specific geographical area,” according to Gerbin Law. “Business names, logos, and phrases that are regularly used–even though they have never been federally registered–can all be considered common law trademarks.”
Mauldin’s claim is that he’s been using the name “Scream Tour” for his own tours for decades, even though he only formally trademarked the name two months after the Black Promoters Collective (who are also named in the lawsuit) filed the trademark for themselves. In fact, Mauldin is claiming that Bow Wow was well aware of who truly owned the “Scream Tour” trademark, because he was on the tour himself.
“The first and subsequent SCREAM TOURTM live music performance events and tours in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2017 have been highly successful in attracting, cultivating, and promoting teenage and young adult music performers in the music industry,” he wrote in paragraph 32 of the complaint.
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“Based on whether new, teenage and young adult music performers were ready to perform, Mr. Mauldin made decisions each year whether to conduct the SCREAM TOURTM live music performance events and tour. Music performers including Ne-Yo, T.I., Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Ciara, T-Pain, Defendant Shad Gregory Moss aka Bow Wow, B2K, Nick Cannon, Yung Joc, Omarion, Mindless Behavior, Ms. Mulatto aka Lotto have performed at live music performance events and tours under the SCREAM TOURTM Trademark.”
