Bow Wow has run into a bit of a legal problem with the use of the Scream Tour name thanks to a lawsuit brought by Jermaine Dupri‘s father, Michael Mauldin.
According to court documents obtained by HipHopDX, Mauldin — a producer in his own right, who was instrumental in fostering Dupri’s career in his early days — is laying claim to what’s known as “common law” trademark, which is why he’s suing both Bow Wow (real name Shad Moss) and 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.”
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Mauldin’s claim is that he’s been using the name “Scream Tour” for his own tours for the past forty years, 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.
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“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. “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.”
Check out the filings below.
Back in July, Bow Wow announced on Instagram that he was relaunching the Scream Tour for the “new generation” of performers.
“That was then This is NOW! Its time to SCRRRRREAAAAM,” he captioned the tour’s video announcement. “Them kids been getting on yalls nerves all summer its only one place to bring them so they can be as wild as they want! SCREAM TOUR 23 “NEXT UP” We baaaaack !!
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“GET YOUR TICKETS 🎫 MY YOUNGINS IS READY TO SHOW OUT!!! @thatgirllaylay @officialyoungdylan and more…… oh yeah IM HOSTING ! It’s only right!”
Artists scheduled to perform on the tour include That Girl Lay Lay, Young Dylan, Wanmor, Papa Jay and more, according to a follow-up Instagram post.
