Lawyer Reacts To The OutKast ATLiens Lawsuit | Is Your Artist Name Safe?

[@TopMusicAttorney]

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[@HaraldBergTechTv]

In my opinion, the EDM group should change their name

[@michaeldejode473]

When I hear ATLiens, I think Outkast. The album cover with two masked people called ATLiens, would make me believe it's Outkast trying something new or at least make me go "Is this Outkast?". Being from Europe I never heard of the ATLiens EDM duo, but growing up in the 90's I sure have heard of Outkast as they were big here too.

[@jackyly79]

Boys 2 Men is a bad example … Michael Bivins helped them and was their manager so they had the thumbs up from New Edition.

[@toastangler]

They need to come up with a new name. "ATLiens" will always be associated with Outkast. Hell, "ATLiens" isn't even that witty. It shouldn't be that difficult for the EDM group to come up with a better name.

[@Tiki-Eldridge]

Even less witty: 'AfterTheLawsuit-iens'...;-)

[@toastangler]

@@Tiki-Eldridge lol

[@HaraldBergTechTv]

@@toastangler I totally agree

[@NickTaylorRickPowers]

Could have been fine if they had not applied for the trademark Basically forced Outkast to respond

[@orlock20]

I don't believe OutKast can win on the name, but the group can win on the merchandise. While having a name based on an album is iffy, having a trademark on a physical product is not.

[@chrisvonpimpenstein]

Outkast doesn’t really want the EDM group’s money. There isn’t really enough money being generated to really make it worth it, and it’s also bad PR for a giant group to take all the money from a couple guys that are likely stuggling just to have a middle-class lifestyle. This is about OTHER people in the future infringing upon the ATLiens “trademark.” Outkast is just putting on record that they are defending their trademark because if they don’t, then a few years down the road someone else uses ATLiens and there’s a LOT of money on the line and the defense is “hey, Outkast didn’t defend it before so they clearly don’t care.” That’s all this is. Outkast is just going to get them to change their name because they don’t even have the money to fight this. The EDM group will become Atlanta Aliens or something like that, and Outkast will have demonstrated they are protecting their trademark for a future infringement. It's not enough for Outkast to USE the trademark; they have to also DEFEND it or they can risk providing a defense to a future infringer or, in a worst case scenario, losing their trademark rights.

[@Mi_Mono]

That end goal can be achieved outside of the Federal Court system that will, in fact, cost the EDM band money.

[@chrisvonpimpenstein]

@@Mi_Mono Nope. The EDM group will settle. And likely just by changing their name and nothing else. The vast vast vast majority of cases never ever make it to trial. I would be willing to bet the Outkast attorney had previously reached out to the EDM group and told them not to use the name. And the EDM group either ignored it or said, "no." So basically, now the Outkast attorney is saying, "okay, well here's how much you are going to SUFFER. Now, you wanna reconsider changing your name????" 30 years in this biz; I see this all the time. SOP is1) ask. when they don't comply then step 2) scary C&D (or whatever appropriate) that says you are going to take legal action (some will skip #1). If still they don't do what you want, then you actually file. That's when balls of steel turn to balls of tinfoil. I've been through all these scenarios too many times to count. I suspect the only money the EDM band is going to spend is a couple hours with their attorney deciding not to fight it. That and the money to register a new trademark. It's not going to trial. (famous last words, I know.... but let's say 99% it's not going to trial).

[@ab1923]

What Outkast wants to do doesn't really matter. They are forced into this. If you have a trademark / copyright and it gets proven at any point in court that you have failed to defend it, you lose it. This isn't about "other" people. Its about the trademark, period. They have no choice but to either defend it, or lose rights to it completely.

[@drumagus2258]

if it was 100% underground cool but when you put your music on the streaming, we know people are gonna look for the outkast album and find you, its sneaky way to get free promotion.

[@beat_avenger]

I feel like OutKast let it slide as a respectful omage until they tried to swoop the trademark?

[@MedjayCommander]

Boyz to Men was under Michael Bivins 5:17 a member of New Edition (just for clarity)

[@trilllife28]

I feel OutKast set the bar and made a historical movement and if I was from OutKast I would be up set because of what they had to go through it’s bigger then just a name that people see if they truly have the for OutKast they should have talked with someone from the team

[@Tripwelleverday]

That’s a common term in Atlanta it’s people from outta town and it’s been use mf pre OutKast so it’s basically racism or sectism people that aren’t from Atlanta are called atliens

[@JNegative]

Barbara Streisand effect deployed, 'ATliens' will now forever now be associated with both Outkast and the EDM group.

[@lizabrown6458]

Ive heard of OutKast - but I didn’t know ATLiens ! And I’m pretty knowledgeable - but I am from UK and most of my Rap refs are from the early 90s … thats it.

[@jayjaybirdsnest]

26 year old here, I know Outkast (not a huge fan) i also know ATliens. I never once thought they were at all affiliated, in fact - i never even knew Outkast had an album by that name - i legitimately only know a few of their big tunes.

[@ryanmclean2000]

I’m atliens (edm) fan and I speak for a lot of us their fan base knows of OutKast yes but there is no confusion in their fan base they are a top draw in the edm genre on their own merits they make really good dubstep and built a following on that

[@whoisee]

As an edm producer. no edm fan has ever thought they were outkast literally ever. I also grew up in the 90's but ATLiens EDM group is clearly 2 tatted white dudes with masks.

[@drunkskunk2]

To add: I didn't think they were OutKast but I didn't know if they were associated with them Not true. I am very much into EDM and I am also 42 years old and I listened to the shit out of Outkast back in the day. This past June when I went to Electric Forest and I saw the ATLiens of the schedule I thought immediately they had something to do with OutKast. I didn't really know whom they were because I am not into Dubstep that much. I was a little confused on the relation so I asked around and it seemed like no one really knew. So I went how after the weekend and did a deep dive. It truly muddies the water for OutKast. In all fairness, ATLiens (EDM) is a great group and their show was insane, but... they have been purposely riding the coat tails of OutKast' work that was laid out before them.

[@ceruleanstone]

It's less about whether an EDM fan who follows the scene knows that they're not Outkast. It's more of an issue of an Outkast fan buying tickets/merch/downloads etc. from the EDM group because they'd never heard of the EDM group.

[@jayjaybirdsnest]

THIS. Literally NO ONE thought ATliens were outkast. In fact, if you're even slightly in the scene you'd know their identities.

[@ceruleanstone]

If I were Outkast, I wouldn't agree to any kind of co-existence deal without forcing the EDM group modify their name to "The ATLienzz" or something that clearly distinguishes the two. A couple '90s examples that come to mind: the band "Verve" having to change to "The Verve" or band "Suede" having to change to "The London Suede" in certain markets, even though suede and verve were preexisting common words. This would solve the confusion issue while still letting the EDM group keep their career. Actually, with this kind of resolution, the EDM group should be thanking Outkast for taking them to court; they'd end up better-off from the whole ordeal just from the free publicity. Win-win.

[@diggledoggledo]

It is that using ATLiens is an issue because it also shows tacit or literal agreement by Outkast to use the name. This would mean that perhaps Outkast likes it so fans of Outkast may be influenced to look at their music. Since it is also music that means that Outkast has a professional ability to produce and rate music and this also gives the look the ATLiens are either associated with or backed by Outkast. The difference between dookie and ATLiens is that dookie existed in the cultural lexicon before Green Day's album. ATLiens did not exist beforehand. Either way they should settle this out of court amicably so nobody looks bad. Also they tried to trademark their name as ATLiens when a competing trademark existed without asking permission or agreement from the initial owners in a related field? Bold.

[@KenP1973]

This sounds like a WWF going after WWE sitch

[@ab1923]

There's a popular youTube channel this happened to. Feli from Germany, originally called something different, had to change her channel's name because someone else had (IIRC) an etsy page / ecommerce type site using the same name. Because the e-commerce site had been using the name first, Feli lost the rights, and had to completely change the name of a channel that had several hundred thousand subs and millions of video views. Even though Feli has been on KZbin for years with the original name, it was still an insta-loss because the other person used it first. Even though the use of the name by either party was in completely different spaces (original was NOT a KZbin channel). then out of the blue they created that channel, and promptly struck all of Feli's content. She survived and thrived, and no one still knows jack about the person that tried to ruin Feli. It was clear what the original user was trying to do, take ownership of Feli's channel, but it just goes to drive home a point. Always always make damn sure, your artistic name hasn't been used by someone before. Could cost everything, even years later.

[@ItsMe.Farfuuu]

Never heard of the album by OutKast until they sued the group

[@EricE549]

16:36 this reminds me of some legal proceedings (likely a C&D) in 2019 between mastadon (dubstep producer, active since 2013) and mastodon (metal band, active since 2000). while the dubstep producer wasn't masked, some folks have bought tickets to his shows thinking they were gonna see the metal band, or otherwise discovered him while looking for the metal band. the dubstep producer had to change his name. he initially put a dash between the A and the D ("masta-don") but it wasn't enough. thus, marauda was born. other legal cases that forced name changes within the bass music scene include lucii → luci (there was another artist named lucii), muzzy → muzz ("muzzy" is a language-learning program from the BBC), and so on and so forth with smaller artists.

[@jayjaybirdsnest]

Marauda actually DID perform in a mask in the early days. He often still wears a balaclava while playing. (There was a reason for the mask in the early days, iykyk)

[@ryankowalski3670]

album names aren't really protectable. otherwise there's a SHIT ton of people with similar names and it would be really restrictive if you needed to come up with something new for every new album.

[@robertm3951]

There are a thousand tribute bands with names like that but I guess the original bands would not get bothered since they get money of the cover songs.

[@rapiercharizard]

It's "what a prudent person would do" at its finest. The main problem is that they're both music duos from Atlanta.

[@shantereed]

I am from Georgia. This happened with another Georgia group Lady Antebellum who changed their name to Lady A and they were sued by the person who had been using the name for 20 years. Lady Antebellum is a big country group and the lady using it is not well known. This is pretty interesting. Coming from Ga no way they didn’t know. But it is interesting OutKast waited this long.

[@thejunkwall]

I think if ATLiens hadn't tried to register their own trademark it wouldn't have been an issue. I'm sure that pissed off OutKast. It's funny. I didn't listen to much rap growing up and actually discovered the ATLiens album from Outkast when looking for ATLiens (EDM) music. Feels like it could have been a "rising tides lift all ships" situation if the EDM group had just left it alone. They'd coexisted for years.

[@dmvtrax645]

I have two cousins that are in Dungeon Family. One of them produces all OutKast records with his partners. They aren’t winning this with OutKast legal team that they have.

[@roygbiv1996]

Bro why is this even a big deal, they’re entirely different genres, so it’s not like it hurts them at all

[@LupinTheDestructor-tm]

You should be able to name your band after a song or album, by coincidence or other. This is how it has always been done. I enjoy both of these acts. This is definitely the work of the horrible humans controlling the music biz pushing the artists, if the artists are even aware of the suit. I doubt an original idea from Andre or big boi to sue.

[@mikemurillo398]

This is similar to what happened to the band "Better Than Ezra", who originally was named Ezra outcast wins this

[@CorneliusBoots]

On the one hand, Outkast is being very typical, selfish with their fame and renown, and small-minded. In the long term, letting bands from other genres name themselves after your well-known albums and tracks would be a totally boss move creatively -- it shows you are secure in your artistry and want other creative people to share in your ingenuity. But no, arch-capitalism demands territoriality -- most of the laws gone over on this channel emerged from a not-sharing worldview, and this is one example. Even though, I am claiming, everyone would make more money (ironically) if they allowed it (which, could still be their plan, but this suit makes good propaganda, I mean press -- for now and me even listening to this proves it -- they might ride this for awhile then drop it). On the other hand, the EDM group should have more respect for other artists' creations and sense of personal connection i.e. ownership at a very interior level. I suspect it feels hurtful to Outkast on some level that this group -- that doesn't even have the guts to show their faces -- ripped off one of their best linguistic contributions to music and culture and, knowing that they have nothing whatsoever to do with Outkast, just ride that stolen horse around trying to sell their own wares to people. So yeah, I can read it both ways, without even getting into what the laws may or may not delineate. Also, technically Andre plays whistles, they are not flutes, but he benefits from that bit of word-sorcery so this particular distinction is unlikely to see the light...

[@SteakandChains]

Is there any risk to posting ai music online and allowing others to use it for their own commercial use? I’m creating content (out of respect for real musicians l refrain from calling it music) for use as background music for my local group of content creators and want to make sure there is no risk in them using it. The content is 98% AI created. Lyrics have some manual intervention and the rhythm is guided but generated via AI.

[@djstacktrace]

How can an album title and a band name be conflated in this way?

[@lkd4868]

ATLienz?

[@bdbeats7209]

I have been a fan of ATLIENS for a few years, and no one I've ever encountered has ever thought that they were secretly Outkast. I think the lawsuit is messed up.There are a ton of bands named after songs/albums. I don't think that ATLIENS is trying to take any food off of their plates, and it's coming off as a cringy and desperate move on Outkasts part. They could have just sent a cease and desist.

[@j.p.8811]

Yeah honestly it's kind of similar to how the band Godsmack got their name from the Alice In Chains song God Smack as they were fans of their music. I don't think anyone related to Alice In Chains went after them for it though, not that I think they would've had a case.

[@TheUncleRuckus]

You clearly don't know the first thing about Trademark Law! If OutKast doesn't take them to court they have the chance to lose their Trademark bc of the "Use it or Lose it" rule in US Trademark Law, which hurts their brand and opens it up for everyone to use it as they see fit. This isn't like Copyright Law Trademarks always have to be contested.

[@bdbeats7209]

@TheUncleRuckus you are right, I 100% don't know shit about trade mark law. I'm just commenting my opinions on the situation, how I feel about it and think it looks, and the fact that there are hundreds of bands/artists named after others songs or albums that haven't had to go through this. Also, did ATLIENS get their name trademarked first? What is it Outkast is at risk of losing?

[@jasonisjasondoes]

They should have chosen another name and 3k is like I'm playing the flute, need money.

[@markseagraves5486]

These guys might be superfans. Why not settle by sharing a 'joint' release? Remixes, new tracks, guest appearances on new copyrights. Come on, more music = more money. Share the love.

[@Mi_Mono]

Ur missing the key component - greed.

[@wildnwoolley3113]

Accord

[@Levelupree]

🔥 🥵 🔥

[@Eika999]

Hi can u react to Foolio pls

[@marvymillz]

……🤔

[@j.p.8811]

Smart, cute and interested in music, I think I have a crush on this girl 😆

[@neoSoulLofi]

I think the EDM group ATLiens actually has has some legs to dig in the ground with. Yes Outkast created the name "ATLiens"; for a song. The EDM group ATLiens is using it as there name. Precedents being 1) The original Wizard of OZ had a dog named Toto 50+ years before the band TOTO was ever formed. No ownership legal action from the movie company. 2) A female punk rock group named The Breeders have a song called Cannonball Circa 1992-93. The first Cannonball movie predates the song name 20+ years! If I'm completely wrong please explain because I'm constantly looking for unique title names for songs so I can mitigate the chances of this being an issue for myself.

[@iamhvrcrft]

I disagree atliens the Edm group is crushing the whole world right now playing way bigger shows than outcast is currently they will beat this and continue to be more popular than outcast right now. Outcast is just butt Hirt because they aren’t playing edc MainStage they aren’t playing to raging crowds every single night it’s a cash grab because they saw a group finding huge success where they haven’t had a record out in how long ?

[@jayjaybirdsnest]

Agree. ATliens is marginally bigger than Outkast & NO ONE has ever thought ATliens has anything to do with them.