Drake is facing a new lawsuit that claims some of the rapper’s recent tour merch infringed on the trademark of the Eighties-popular apparel brand Members Only.
Billboard reports that JR Apparel World LLC, the current owner of Members Only who revived the brand over the last decade, sued Drake and his company Away From Home Touring Inc. over tour t-shirts that featured the words “Members Only” written on them; “Members Only” is also the title of a song on the rapper’s 2023 LP For All the Dogs.
“The fact that ‘Members Only’ is a song on Drake’s album ‘For All the Dogs’ does not obviate the likelihood of confusion or give [him] a license to use our client’s ‘Members Only’ marks in such a confusing manner, particularly on or in connection with apparel items,” the lawsuit states.
While Members Only was best known for their racer jackets in the Eighties and Drake’s use of “Members Only” featured only on t-shirts with an entirely different font, “Away From Home’s use of ‘Members Only’ … is likely to cause confusion, mistake, and deception among consumers as to the origin of Away From Home’s infringing T-shirts,” the lawsuit states, adding the company owns the trademark on clothing “bearing the mark ‘Members Only.’”
The Members Only lawsuit is the latest legal action against Drake, who has recently managed to sidestep lawsuits: The rapper was dismissed from lawsuits related to the Astroworld disaster and settled another suit related to when he and 21 Savage made a fake Vogue cover to promote their album Her Loss. Drake also removed his AI-assisted track “Taylor Made Freestyle” upon legal threats from Tupac Shakur’s estate.
