A British based promotor, Paul Roberts, has been accused of the tort of passing off over his ‘Whitney – Queen Of The Night’ tribute show.
The Estate of the late Whitney Houston entered into a partnership with Primary Wave back in 2019 following the singer’s death in 2012 to create the entity, ‘Whit Wave IP LLC’ which controls Whitney Houston’s trade marks and various intellectual property rights.
Whit Wave IP LLC has issued proceedings against Paul Roberts and his production company, claiming they are passing the tribute show off as being endorsed and/ or approved by Whit Wave IP LLC. The claim appears to have been issued following Robert’s recent announcement of the first ever US tour of ‘Whitney – Queen Of The Night’. The promotional material for the show does include a disclaimer that the production is not affiliated with or endorsed by the estate of the late singer.
Roberts registered a UK trade mark back in 2014 for the mark “Whitney” which is registered against class 41 for the service ‘live entertainment’. Whit Wave IP LLC are also the proprietor of a UK trade mark for the mark “WHITNEY HOUSTON” which was registered the same year. The company claim Roberts’ trade mark is invalid and cite grounds the mark was registered in bad faith. They are also seeking injunctive relief to prevent Roberts and his company from using the Whitney name and an undisclosed sum of damages.
If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.
