Gizelle Bryant & Robyn Dixon Try To Depose Eminem Again

The reality stars are intensifying their efforts in their legal tussle with the rapper over the trademark issue despite a previous court ruling tossing out their deposition motion.

Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon got into it with Eminem last year when they applied to obtain the trademark for “Reasonably Shady,” the name of their podcast.

The “Real Housewives of Potomac” duo did not let an initial rejection of their deposition request deter them. They have now filed a request for reconsideration that will allow them to depose the 51-year-old rapper in the trademark case.

Last month, the United States Patent and Trademark Office Board ruled that Gizelle and Robyn only had the right to depose Eminem’s manager, but not him directly. But the duo, in their new filing noted that:

“Mr. Mathers’ deposition is critical in determining ownership, validity of rights, state of mind that pertains to fame, along with actual confusion issues, and current use.”

According to In Touch, they stated that by limiting the jurisdiction of the deposition to a “third party witness and not Eminem himself, and then being forced to respond to a Motion for Summary Judgement where a number of facts will remain in dispute because Gizelle and Robyn were not given an opportunity to depose Eminem, Gizelle, and Robyn will be denied the opportunity to present a full-throated defense to Eminem’s premature motion.”

Gizelle and Robyn’s trademark application was filed by The United States Patent and Trademark Office Board as part of their plan to use “Reasonably Shady” to sell merchandise and various products related to the podcast.

However, Eminem and his legal team opposed the filing and stated that Eminem had worked for over a decade to build the “Shady” trademark. The rapper owned the trademark for Slim Shady, Shady, and Shady Limited.

He also argued that if they proceeded with the trademarking, people would believe he was associated with the podcast or the products sold by the hosts.

“Reasonably Shady so resembles Opposer’s mark Slim Shady, Shady and the mark Shady Limited in terms of appearance, sound and commercial impression as to be likely, when applied to [Robyn & Gizelle’s] goods, to cause confusion and mistake and to deceive,” his attorney stated.

Eminem argued against the initial request for deposition by the Plaintiff and claimed that a personal appearance in court would be an “unduly burdensome” task on his person.

The Blast reported that the rapper claimed that his limited knowledge of the subjects at issue would do little to help the case. Eminem clarified that while he held the trademark registrations for “Shady,” “Slim Shady,” and “Shady Limited,” he is not directly involved in the brand’s management.

He then presented three alternative suitable candidates to the court, who reportedly possess “superior knowledge to Mathers on the relevant topic.”

His manager, Paul Rosenberg, the Chief Marketing Officer of Universal Music Group subsidiary Fame House, Eric Hahn, and Stuart Parr, a longtime licensing handler of Eminem, were listed as suitable persons for deposition in his stead.

Eminem is not new to the legal aspect of the music business and, most importantly, protecting his creative assets. The star took legal action against Vivek Ramaswamy in August 2023, who used “Lose Yourself” as his walkout song at a campaign event.

Eminem, through his management company, BMI, sent the politician a cease-and-desist letter outlining his objection to the unauthorized use of his music.

“BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement for which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto,” the lawsuit clarified.

Last December, the rapper’s collaboration with Fortnite did not record much success, at least judging by fans’ reactions. The highly publicized live event, which was a virtual concert by the rapper, promised fun for players who looked forward to seeing Eminem perform in avatar form.

However, fans were left wanting more following Eminem’s limited screen time, which lasted just four minutes and featured only two tracks: “Lose Yourself” and “Godzilla.”

One fan wrote on X, “I bought the Eminem skin for no reason…10 hour wait time and missed the first live event now can even log into Fortnite for the one at 3…This is insane.” Another user wrote:

“So, I waited 2hrs, said unable to log in when I went to wait for the 5pm event..now I got another hour and a half queue…and I cant make the 11pm event, so I guess I don’t get my Eminem variant..thank you fortnite..THANK YOU.”

Where will Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon’s reconsideration filing swing this time?