Newsboys vs. New Boyz, Christian Rock Against Hip-Hop in an Infringement Case
By Lora Neng
WWW.STREETGANGS.COM STAFF WRITER
July 9, 2012
The New Boyz are under attack by a Christian Rock group in Tennessee for trademark infringement for sharing no more than a very similar name. The plaintiff is called the Newsboys, and owner/manager Wesley Campbell insists that having “invested millions of dollars and many years of hard work to promote his band,” the deceptively similar “appearance, sound, meaning and connotation” of the name of a Hip-Hop crew has caused damage and losses to his gospel group.
The Boyz have purportedly been confusing members of the Christian community since being signed with Warner Music in 2009. In the complaint filed in the District Court of Middle Tennessee, the “plaintiff prays” that the law will remedy the New Boyz’ act of unjust competition and wrongfully derived profits by compensation exceeding $75,000.
As for the confounded followers, if there’s difficulty distinguishing “sexually charged” and explicit lyrical content from a highly successful and multiple award nominated gospel message, though both groups may be fronted by an African-American face and musical roots, maybe litigation isn’t the best way to cultivate divergent taste.
Tags: Christian Rock, gospel, New Boyz, Newsboys, trademark infringement, unjust competition
Posted by Lora
on Jul 9 2012. Filed under Entertainment.
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