It seems Will.I.Am isn’t so interested in suing Pharrell Williams after.
Indeed, after giving the ‘Senorita’ producer enough reason to believe he would be yesterday, today saw the hit making producer deny he was to take Williams to court for copyright infringement, over their ‘confusingly similar’ ‘I Am’ & ‘I Am Other’ brands.
Full story below…
In a statement released by Will’s lawyer to BBC Newsbeat, the following was explained:
“will.i.am is not suing Pharrell Williams. What will.i.am has done is what any trademark owner must do to protect and maintain a trademark. This is a run-of-the-mill trademark dispute that has been going on since late last year.
“In order to avoid weakening or losing his trademark, will.i.am has an obligation under trademark law to monitor and defend his trademarks against confusingly similar marks. will.i.am has registered several trademarks, including ‘I AM’, which is also emphasised in, and a significant element of, his professional name.
We think their proposed trademark is too close to our registered and common law trademarks. They disagree. We hope to work out a sensible compromise that will allow both parties to move forward without unnecessary acrimony.”
Perhaps, in acknowledging his own predicament as a brand, Will’s beef with Pharrell isn’t so petty after all.
For, considering none of his ventures all that fruitful without a bigger acts name tied to it, it’s obvious that Will doesn’t want to risk his ‘I Am’ being confused with ‘I Am Other’- as it’d place him in direct competition with someone far more popular and commercially potent than he is.
Taking to Twitter today, he claimed:
*Sigh.
With Britney Spears enlisting him to executive producer her eighth studio album, here’s hoping this unnecessary drama is laid to rest as to allow Will to do what he’s actually good at…producing.
Until then, join us in enjoying the gems below…