André 3000 and Big Boi, who comprise the iconic hip-hop duo OutKast, have launched a trademark infringement lawsuit against the electronic music duo ATLiens, Billboard reports.
The masked, anonymous bass music tandem share a name with OutKast’s sophomore album, ATLiens, which released in 1996 via LaFace Records and Arista Records.
“The word ATLiens was invented by OutKast,” according to the suit. “Before OutKast created it, it was not used in the cultural lexicon and did not exist. Defendant’s use of the ATLiens mark is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive the public.”
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The album’s titular track remains one of OutKast’s most popular songs, receiving over 186 million streams on Spotify at the time of this writing. The record is “one of OutKast’s most well-known and well-regarded songs,” according to the lawsuit, which also rebukes ATLiens’ repeated performances of the song during their DJ sets.
André 3000 and Big Boi have also taken aim at ATLiens’ signature masks, which the lawsuit claims leads to confusion surrounding the two groups’ identities. OutKast’s legal team reportedly attempted to “negotiate an amicable resolution to the dispute,” but ATLiens continued to use the name “in confusing ways.”
“The duo comprising defendant performs with masks on, thereby concealing their identities such that consumers will mistakenly believe that the members of Defendant are one and the same with—or at least somehow connected to—plaintiff,” per Outkast’s lawyers.
ATLiens have not publicly commented on the lawsuit at the time of this writing.
