Megastar Rihanna sues dad for doing business under her name
Umbrella Empire
Singer and actress Rihanna is a pop star and multitalented conglomerate. In addition to her musical accomplishments – seven multiplatinum albums, nine Grammy awards, 13 American Music Awards – she's also the driving force behind several businesses, including cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty and a number of cross-marketed products with businesses like Puma and Stance.
Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, Rihanna has marketed many of her products under the "Fenty" moniker, with intellectual property subsidiaries licensing her name and likeness to her business partners. Clearly her projects are yielding results; her total net worth was recently estimated to exceed a quarter of a billion dollars. As part of her next stage of development, she is branching out into acting.
With an empire like this, it's no surprise that Rihanna is cautious when managing how her brand is represented to and perceived by potential consumers.
Unapologetic?
The United Kingdom-based Rihanna and two of her New York-based intellectual property holding companies launched a surprising lawsuit a few weeks ago. The targets of the lawsuit include Rihanna's father, Ronald Fenty, and his business partner, Moses Perkins, who conduct business as Fenty Entertainment, which is an "entertainment and talent development" company operating out of Los Angeles.
In the complaint, Rihanna is suing her father for what she claims is a persistent pattern of misappropriation and misuse of her name and profile. The complaint claims that this misappropriation and misuse of her name started with the launch of Fenty Entertainment, which was accompanied by a press release that falsely stated that the company was founded in partnership with the singer (the release has since been removed from the company website).
The complaint goes on to allege that Rihanna's father's company continued to falsely advertise itself as connected to her, going so far as accepting, without her knowledge, an exclusive deal from a third party for Rihanna to tour Latin America. The pair allegedly told the third party that they had discussed the deal with Rihanna when they had not, and tried to secure payment exceeding $15 million for the arrangement.
When Rihanna's people became aware of this activity in March 2018, they sent a cease-and-desist letter that they claim Ronald Fenty ignored. Furthermore, in August 2018, the complaint maintains, Ronald Fenty went ahead with a patent application to register the Fenty mark in the hotel industry.
The Takeaway
Rihanna is suing her father for unfair competition, false designation of origin and false advertisement under the Lanham Act, and misappropriation of name and invasion of privacy – false light publicity –under the California Civil Code. She's seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.
Rihanna has had a troubled relationship with her father since her childhood, and these legal proceedings are sure to aggravate a delicate situation. As the complaint maintains, "Simply put, Mr. Fenty, Mr. Perkins and the Company are not presently, nor have they ever been, authorized to exploit Rihanna's name, her intellectual property or the goodwill associated with her well-known 'Fenty' brand, or to solicit any business on her behalf."
This lawsuit is an example of the power of intellectual property licensing rights and how brand integrity can be both commodified and easily damaged through exploiting such rights. Looking forward, it will be interesting to see how the court responds to the allegations in the complaint, and potential ramifications for Rihanna's intellectual property rights and brand perception by consumers.
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