Sean “Diddy” Combs’ war with Sean John just escalated in a major way.
The Hip-Hop mogul has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the clothing brand he founded Sean John, as well as the company’s owner GBG USA.
According to a complaint lodged today (February 4th), Sean John launched a new clothing line for women with a company called Missguided and illegally used Diddy’s image, likeness, and persona without his permission.
Diddy sold Sean John to GBG USA in November of 2016. In the lawsuit, Diddy claims Sean John, Missguided and GBG fabricated quotes to make it seem as if he was still associated with the brand when they launched the “Sean John x Missguided” line for women.
Diddy claims the companies manipulated the press with false statements attributed to him that never made.
“[Diddy] does not challenge [Sean John/GBG’s] right to use the Sean John trademark, but rather [Sean John/GBG’s] decision to leverage a fabricated quote they created and then falsely attributed to Mr. Combs, and to use Mr. Combs’s name and other monikers to create the false and misleading impression that Mr. Combs is the decision-maker behind the designs and creation of the GBG Collection,” Diddy’s lawyer Jonathan D. Davis explained.
To make matters worse, Diddy says his image was featured in a :40 second Sean John/Missguided video for an ad campaign promoting the clothing line.
The rap mogul wants the public to know that he is no longer associated with the brand he founded in 1998.
“[Sean John, GBG and Missguided] are using the Unapproved Material, which contains false or misleading representations of fact, to promote and sell the items in the GBG Collection because they understand that associating it with Mr. Combs will significantly increase sales and profits,” Diddy’s lawyer Jonathan Davis continued.
This is the second legal skirmish between Diddy and Sean John over the last 30 days.
Diddy claims Sean John/GBG illegally hijacked the phrase, trademarked it, and started selling merchandise on the Sean John website during the 2020 election.