Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who previously formed the songwriting duo The Neptunes, are currently in a legal dispute over the group’s name.
The lawsuit comes as Hugo accused Williams of “fraudulently” seeking sole control over the trademarks without consulting him.
The Neptunes rose to prominence in the early 2000s, after both Williams and Hugo were friends in their childhood. They produced a run of hit tracks at the turn of the century including Gwen Stefani’s ‘Hollaback Girl’, Snoop Dogg’s ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’, Justin Timberlake’s ‘Rock Your Body’ and Nelly’s ‘Hot in Herre’.
They reached the peak of their success before Williams went on to become a solo musician, and they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2022.
However, the two have run into legal action following Hugo filing a lawsuit against his songwriting partner last week at a federal tribunal – accusing Williams of attempting to unilaterally register trademarks for the Neptunes name. The move by Williams, they claim, is something that violates their longstanding agreement that saw the pair split everything 50/50.
“Throughout their over 30-year history, [Hugo] and Williams agreed to, and in fact, have divided all assets. By ignoring and excluding [Hugo] from any and all applications filed by the applicant for the mark ‘The Neptunes,’ the applicant has committed fraud in securing the trademarks and acted in bad faith,” wrote Hugo’s attorney Kenneth D. Freundlich, a prominent music industry litigator (via Billboard).
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Sharing a statement to the outlet, a representative for Williams said that the musician was left “surprised” by the legal action, and had no ill intent behind the trademark filings.
“We have reached out on multiple occasions to share in the ownership and administration of the trademark and will continue to make that offer,” they added. “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.”
Freundlich later disputed the comments made by the spokesperson for Williams, telling Billboard: “If Pharrell’s intent was to include Chad in the filing, he should have registered it in the name of them jointly or as a partnership and not in his own name…This was a land grab in a long-simmering dispute that has yet to be resolved.”
The statement echoes what was said in the filing, which argued that Williams had “knowingly and intentionally” filed those applications without Hugo, despite him being “fully aware” that either Hugo or their partnership entity should have been listed as a co-owner.
Hugo’s attorneys have claimed they have “repeatedly” contacted Williams’ team about the issues, and said that the musician’s lawyers “admitted that [Hugo] is equal co-owner of the trademarks” and promised to include him. That being said, the case claims that inclusion never happened, partly because of the “onerous business terms” laid out by Williams’ team, which would deprive Hugo of control and compensation.
Three recent trademark applications were targeted in the legal action, although this could expand further as Williams’ company have previously registered The Neptunes name as a trademark for musical recordings, clothing and merchandise.
This is a developing story.