Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz
A federal judge in Illinois has granted the estate of the late Nipsey Hussle a temporary restraining order against vendors selling counterfeit merchandise bearing his name and likeness.
According to reports on the case, the ruling was issued by Judge Steven Seeger on Monday (January 3rd) in response to a complaint by the estate represented by Hussle’s brother, Samiel Asghedom against a group of individuals the complaint claims “reside and/or operate in the People’s Republic of China or other foreign jurisdictions with lax trademark enforcement systems.” Judge Seeger also granted the plaintiff’s motion for “electronic service of process” and a “motion for leave to file under seal” as recorded in the one page ruling made available online.
Nipsey Hussle’s estate alleges that these individuals were operating e-commerce stores that manufactured and sold products that bore the “Victory Lap” rappers likeness and name, and using trademarks associated with him. In the original filing of the complaint it stated that the bootleg merchandise caused “irreparable harm” to his name.
The original complaint goes on to say that the estate was also seeking ownership and control of the e-commerce domains operated by the alleged counterfeiters as well as a monetary judgement of three times the profits they received in selling the bootleg items or “$2,000,000 for each and every use of the” trademarks” as an alternative.
The news of this ruling comes as word of the final music project done by Nipsey Hussle that was set to be released as a series of NFTs on January 6th has been delayed. The launch, done in partnership with Rairtech would involve 1000 NFTs giving buyers the ability to stream the project in three separate “pressings”. Initially, representatives from his camp stated that “legal issues” regarding the terms being used to describe the tokens were behind the delay.
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