Sean “Diddy” Combs’ war against his clothing brand Sean John is heating up.
Diddy filed a $60 million lawsuit against Global Brands Group, the majority owner of Sean John, over his “Vote or Die” slogan.
Filed on Feb. 11 in the Southern District of New York, the lawsuit alleges GBG, which holds the majority stake of Sean John, allegedly misappropriated the trademark “Vote or Die.”
The suit against GBG Sean John LLC, alleges that the mark is owned by Citizen Change, a nonprofit headed by Diddy that was founded in 2004. At the time, Diddy registered the trademark for the slogan “Vote Or Die” for his nationwide voter participation campaign.
In December of 2016, the “Vote Or Die” mark was administratively canceled over the failure to file renewal documents, Page Six confirmed, but Diddy continued to use the trademarked slogan in merchandise all the way up until the 2020 presidential election. Diddy’s lawsuit claims GBG is trying to capitalize on the clerical error.
In 2019, GBG Sean Jean applied for the trademark, according to online records, and began selling merchandise with the slogan emblazoned on it, allegedly to make consumers believe the rapper, who owns only a minority share of the fashion brand, was still involved with it.
Diddy is suing Sean John for at least $60 million in damages for breach of contract, unfair competition, common law trademark infringement, deceptive practices, and unjust enrichment.
This is Diddy’s second lawsuit against GBG in a week. On Feb. 4, Diddy filed a $25 million lawsuit against the company for allegedly using his image likeness and person without permission to promote a clothing line for women called Missguided.
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