The legendary hip-hop duo Outkast has filed a federal lawsuit against electronic dance music duo ATLiens, for trademark infringement.
Rolling Stone reports that Outkast’s company, High Schoolers LLC, filed the lawsuit against ATLiens, citing “improper, willful, unauthorized, and illegal use and registration of the ATLIENS mark,” that’s owned by Outkast.
In the lawsuit, Outkast’s lawyers allege that electronic musicians chose the name “to trade upon the tremendous fame and goodwill associated with Plaintiff’s ATLIENS album, song, and mark, or, at a minimum, to call to consumers’ minds Plaintiff’s famous ATLIENS album, song, and mark.”
Outkast’s lawyers also say that ATLiens registered for the trademark in 2020, claiming that they’d been using the name since 2012. Outkast’s second studio album ATLiens came out in 1996. The group’s attorneys say that the competing trademark prevents them from “being able to obtain registrations for its senior ATLIENS mark.”
In a statement to Pitchfork, Outkast’s attorneys said that the situation is “a basic brand protection issue.”
“Efforts to resolve this matter amicably were unfortunately unsuccessful and Outkast therefore had to file suit in order to protect the valuable name and trademark ATLIENS that it created and has continuously used for nearly 30 years,” said attorneys Abigal J. Remorse and Peter E. Nussbaum.
The news of this lawsuit comes right before Andre 3000’s upcoming tour dates in support of his instrumental album New Blue Sun that arrived last November. In September, 3 Stacks will begin his trek in New Orleans and travel the country, wrapping up his final show in Atlanta in November.
