Hip-Hop CEO, Rapper Jay-Z Loses Lawsuit Over Use of Rockafella Name

When a celebrity chef named Terry Miller won $250,000 on reality television show Hell’s Kitchen and decided to name his restaurant after the name of his dish King Prawn Rockafella in the United Kingdom, allegedly Jay-Z saw it befitting to sue.

Reportedly in a lawsuit which began in 2006, Jay-Z born Shawn Carter made claims that the restaurant gave people the wrong impression and that it would confuse the public by making them believe that the New Castle restaurant Rockafella was associated with him, Roc-A-Fella Records. However, the rapper lost the dispute when the courts sided with Terry Miller granting him the exclusive trademark and rights to use the name in the UK.

Jay-Z isn’t the first music artist or industry person to lose a lawsuit over the use of a name in the United Kingdom. In 2007, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs settled an out-of-court legal settlement with London-based music producer Richard “Diddy” Dearlove over use of the name ‘Diddy’ in the United Kingdom. Dearlove initiated the lawsuit citing that the Sean Combs name change of ‘Puffy Daddy’ to ‘Diddy’ caused confusion.

Picture of the Rockafella restaurant, Jay-Z, celebrity Chef Terry Miller