Music
deadmau5 sues vape brand deadmodz for copyright infringement
by Jesse Locke
April 1, 2016
deadmau5 wants fans to be clear he didn't authorize this EDM e-cig.
Happy Vapril Fool’s Day! Here’s the thing, though: This is a real story about deadmau5 suing a vape company who he alleges are willfully confusing his fans into thinking he signed off on their product.
Joel Zimmerman (the artist occasionally known as dead-mow-five) has filed a federal lawsuit against West Coast Vape Supply. He has accused them of acting like the e-cig equivalent of Transmorphers, intentionally infringing on his trademark for the purpose of confusion sales. West Coast Vape Supply’s use of his signature bubble font makes for a pretty convincing argument:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Zimmerman’s lawsuit alleges that deadmodz vapes “overlap with, are closely related to deadmau5’s goods and services and/or represent a natural zone of expansion for deadmau5, and such goods are or would be marketed and sold to the same types of consumers through the same channels of trade.”
Lawyer Irene Lee followed up with a statement about deadmau5’s heroic efforts to protect his decade-long trademark and his vape-addled fans from this kind of cruel trickery:
“Our client faces unscrupulous people trying to take advantage of goodwill associated with his intellectual property and his fame. We are grateful for our fans and believe it’s our obligation to make sure our fans are not duped into buying things that deadmau5 did not authorize.”
