USA - Young Jeezy and Hell's Angels Take Their Trademark Dispute Outside

OFF THE WIRE
Finally, some good legal news for Young Jeezy. Sure, stepping out of the safe confines of a courtroom to quash a disagreement with the Hells Angels might not sound like good news, exactly. But at least the Atlanta rapper could soon be able to put the whole mess behind him.

The motorcycle gang sued Jeezy late last year, claiming he ganked their famous "Death Head" logo for his clothing company without their permission. Earlier this week, Jeezy's 8332 clothing line and the department-store company Dillard's, which allegedly sold the offending merch, shot back that no, they didn't rip off the Angels because the clothes didn't use a border or the name of the motorcycle gang — a little like Vanilla Ice explaining the difference between "Ice Ice Baby" and Queen's "Under Pressure," but whatever. Now the two sides have entered a voluntary program to settle their differences, according to Law360, which cites a February 5 order by a California federal court judge.

A settlement would at least put one of Jeezy's recent legal conflicts to rest. He was arrested twice last month, first for allegedly threatening to kill his son and then for allegedly cursing at police and refusing to identify himself. That comes after Jeezy's mid-2013 #ItsThaWorld EP was considered to be the rapper's "version of Miguel's Art Dealer Chic EP," i.e., "the signal of a rebirth and the tease of a mini-seachange."

The Hells Angels, much like the supposedly "gang"-like Juggalos, tend to show up on government lists of criminal organizations. But there are a lot of lawyers who ride Harleys these days, and in the past decade the Angels have filed trademark cases against Disney, Zappos, Amazon.com, Toys 'R' Us, and more. In the words of Law360, all of those cases have "settled" — and if Jeezy's lucky, that's not meant in a Hunter S. Thompson at the end of Hell's Angels type of way.

http://www.spin.com/articles/young-jeezy-hells-angels-lawsuit-trademark-settlement-death-head/