Neil Young Hit With Lawsuit Over ‘Chrome Hearts’ Band By Fashion Brand With Same Name

A twelvemonth aft Neil Young launched a caller backing set called The Chrome Hearts, the stone fable is present facing a astonishing caller problem: A trademark infringement suit from a decades-old manner marque with the nonstop aforesaid name.

The case, filed Thursday, comes from Chrome Hearts, a luxury marque that’s been utilizing that sanction since the precocious 1980s for apparel, jewelry and accessories. Its lawyers accidental the sanction of Young’s caller radical – which debuted past twelvemonth and released an medium this summertime – is intelligibly infringing the company’s “unique and valuable” name.

“Defendants’ continued usage of the confusingly akin [Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts] sanction successful commerce violates Chrome Hearts’ invaluable intelligence spot rights,” reads the lawsuit, obtained and archetypal reported by Billboard. “Defendants person intentionally and knowingly capitalized disconnected of disorder betwixt the Chrome Hearts [trademarks] and the NYTCH name.”

For decades, Young has toured and recorded off-and-on with the set Crazy Horse, often nether the sanction Neil Young and Crazy Horse. But past year, aft helium called that group’s summertime circuit owed to an unspecific unwellness successful the band, helium debuted retired The Chrome Hearts at FarmAid successful September. The caller radical released its debut Talkin to the Trees medium successful June, and has been connected a satellite tour this summer.

That was each seemingly unwelcome quality for Chrome Hearts, a Los Angeles-based marque that says it has sold apparel and different goods nether that sanction – often written successful a Gothic publication with stylized transverse – since 1988.

In its suit this week, the institution claimed that consumers are going to beryllium confused by Young’s caller sanction — mostly by mistakenly believing that the manner marque has launched an authoritative sponsored collaboration with the iconic singer.

“The likelihood of disorder is not simply hypothetical,” Chrome Hearts’ lawyers write. “Some covering and apparel vendors person seemingly already mistakenly assumed that determination is simply a transportation betwixt NYTCH and Chrome Hearts, and are actively promoting [it.]”

Trademark instrumentality doesn’t assistance anyone an implicit monopoly connected words, and it lone protects a marque sanction to the grade that it’s utilized connected similar goods oregon services successful a mode that confuses consumers into falsely reasoning there’s a connection. That’s wherefore Delta Air Lines and Delta Faucet tin some peacefully co-exist connected wholly antithetic products.

Would euphony fans truly beryllium misled into reasoning there’s transportation to a manner marque erstwhile they spot “Chrome Hearts” adjacent to Neil Young’s sanction connected an medium screen oregon a performance poster? That could beryllium a hard lawsuit for the company’s lawyers to beryllium successful court. But the usage of “Chrome Hearts” connected set t-shirts and different akin merchandise mightiness beryllium a person case.

To enactment that important disorder argument, Chrome Hearts cites respective erstwhile collabs with philharmonic artists, including The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Rihanna, Drake, Lou Reed and Cher. The institution besides says Timothée Chalamet wore a Chrome Hearts leather suit connected a reddish carper past twelvemonth portion promoting his Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.”

“The Chrome Hearts marque has go iconic, particularly successful the manner and euphony industries,” the group’s lawyers say. “And that was the intention. From the precise beginning, the institution placed peculiar accent connected promoting the Chrome Hearts marque among and with the assistance of musicians.”

Earlier this summer, Chrome Hearts says it reached retired to Young’s squad with a missive “respectfully requesting” that helium halt utilizing the name. But they accidental those efforts were unsuccessful – meaning the institution “is present forced to bring this ailment to support its invaluable and longstanding intelligence spot rights.”

The suit is seeking an injunction that would instantly unit Young to halt utilizing the Chrome Hearts name, which the radical is presently utilizing each nighttime connected its “Love Earth Tour” crossed Europe and North America. It is besides seeking damages, though it did not specify however much.

Representatives for Young and attorneys for Chrome Hearts did not instantly instrumentality requests for remark connected Friday.