Lawyers for Outkast have filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against an electronic dance music duo named ATLiens — the title of the hip-hop icons’ celebrated 1996 sophomore album.
Billboard reports that the lawsuit filed Tuesday (August 20) in Georgia federal court by High Schoolers LLC, a holding company controlled by André 3000 and Big Boi, argues that the name “ATLiens” — a portmanteau of the abbreviation of their hometown of Atlanta, GA, and “aliens” — would lead listeners to confuse Outkast with the masked dubstep twosome, also from Atlanta.
“The word ATLiens was invented by Outkast. Before Outkast created it, it was not used in the cultural lexicon and did not exist,” the suit reads in part [via Billboard]. “Defendant’s use of the ATLiens mark is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive the public.”
Released in 1996, Outkast’s ATLiens is now widely considered to be one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. According to the lawsuit, the album’s title track is “one of Outkast’s most well-known and well-regarded songs.”
The suit also claims that the EDM duo’s costumes could lead fans to believe that they are André 3000 and Big Boi, alleging, “The duo comprising defendant performs with masks on, thereby concealing their identities such that consumers will mistakenly believe that the members of Defendant are one and the same with – or at least somehow connected to – [Outkast].”
Find out where ATLiens sits on Exclaim!’s list of Outkast albums ranked.
