Pharrell accused of 'fraudulent' filing for Neptunes trademarks without Chad Hugo

Chad Hugo has accused his longtime friend and production partner Pharrell Williams of “fraudulently” trying to gain sole control of the trademarks associated with their production and songwriting as the Neptunes.

As Advertising sign Hugo's lawyer reportedly filed a legal action in federal court last week accusing Pharrell and his company, PW IP Holdings LLC, of ​​trying to register three separate trademarks for the Neptunes without Hugo's involvement — an alleged infringement of the duo's long-standing agreement to share everything. equally.

“Throughout their thirty-year history, [Hugo] and Williams agreed, and in fact, divided all assets,” the filing said. “By ignoring and excluding [Hugo] of any and all applications made by the applicant for the mark 'The Neptunes', the applicant has committed fraud in securing the marks and acted in bad faith.”

The trademark applications filed by Williams and his company were for use of the Neptunes name for streaming music, music videos and other content, as well as live performances. While the legal action was only launched last week, the applications were first issued in 2022.

Hugo's lawyers argued that Williams “knowingly and intentionally” filed the trademark applications without consulting Hugo, adding: “Nothing, written or oral, provided Williams or [PW IP Holdings] with the unilateral authority for the registration of trade marks.'

A rep for Williams pushed back on that characterization in a statement, however, claiming: “Pharrell is surprised by this. We have reached out many times to share ownership and management of the brand and will continue to make this offer. The goal here was to make sure that a third party would not own the trademark and guarantee Chad and Pharrell's share of ownership and management.” (Hugo's attorney did not return Rolling rockhis request for comment.)

Hugo's filing acknowledges that his legal team “repeatedly” contacted Williams about the matter and that Williams' attorneys “admitted that [Hugo] is an equal co-owner of the trademarks” and would include him in the application. However, the filing alleges that Williams' company then demanded “onerous business terms” that would not be fair to Hugo (no details on those terms were provided, however).

As the Neptunes, Hugo and Williams produced and wrote some of the biggest, most indelible hits of the 2000s. Although not as prolific as they were in their prime, the Neptunes still produce music for others fairly regularly. Interestingly, their most recent credits came in 2022, the same year Williams and his company allegedly filed the trademark applications without consulting Hugo. That year, they worked on music for Rosalía, Omar Apollo and Brent Faiyaz. they were also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.