The case of who has ownership over the trademark The Marathon Continues has officially entered the legal realms of the courtroom. Samiel Asghedom, better known as “Blacc Sam” and the brother and business partner of late rapper Nipsey Hussle, has filed a lawsuit seeking monetary damages and termination of any merchandise unlawfully using the infamous trademark.
Confusion over ownership ensued after the tragic death of Nipsey on March 31, 2019 when the organization Crips LLC filed two documented trademarks claiming the slogan.
The trademark filed on May 16, 2019, just short of two months after Nipsey’s death, empowered the Crips LLC to use the trademark for creating merchandise, arranging and conducting youth sports programs, concert booking, developing educational manuals for others in the field of community organizing, gang prevention, gang intervention, making radio or television programs, and entertainment services, consisting of reality TV, boxing, music production and celebrity-filled community events, to name a few.
Just a couple of weeks later on May 28, 2019, a more broad trademark covering a wide array of classes was filed on the behalf of Asghedom. It appeared that any dispute that allegedly took place was settled when Crips LLC released a public apology.
“There will absolutely be no trademark legal battle between their organization and Blacc Sam,” Crips LLC said in a statement in 2019. “We are deeply sorry for any disruptions and melee that the trademark acquisition may have caused to his family, friends and fans. We realize that our actions may have been offensive and we have reached out to his family, respectively Nip’s sister, Samantha Smith.”
Despite the apology, both trademark filings remain active through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. There is also record of two additional trademark filings, one from Crips LLC and another from a Hoover Street resident by the name of Leslie Rovero, that are now defunct.
