Music
Vice bullying unsigned band ViceVersa into name change
by Jesse Locke
April 11, 2016
$2.5 billion media brand Vice say ViceVersa is 'likely to confuse consumers.'
Two years after causing the closure of beloved Brooklyn music venues Death By Audio and Glasslands with the opening of their head offices, Vice Media has cracked down on a similarly sized target.
ViceVersa, an unsigned indie band from Los Angeles who reportedly struggle to pay rent, were recently hit with legal threats from the Rupert-Murdoch-funded media company in a cease-and-desist letter alleging trademark infringement.
Here’s the letter obtained by the Huffington Post:
The band name ‘ViceVersa’ was trademarked in 2015 by guitarist Christopher Morales (a.k.a. his stage name Zeke Zeledon). He claims there was no prior thought about infringing on Vice Media’s name or logo. In a follow-up statement, Morales says “a name change and complete brand makeover could potentially set the band back thousands of dollars and gravely harm their growing fan base and social media presence.”
ViceVersa have launched a GoFundMe campaign “to generate funds to provide for a legal defence.” They make their case in the video below:
Tags: Music, News, lawsuit, trademark infringement, vice, vice media, viceversa
