Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo sold millions of records together as The Neptunes but the two Virginia-made hitmakers are currently entangled in a legal war over use of the group’s name.
Recently uncovered court docs show Chad opposing a trademark filing of Pharrell’s company PW IP Holdings to lock up the rights to “The Neptunes” for music videos and other downloadable entertainment.
Pharrell’s reps told Billboard he was simply going out of his way to ensure no outsiders got hold of the Neptunes’ name, but Hugo’s attorney Kenneth D. Freundlich went as far as to declare Pharrell committed fraud by leaving his client’s name off the filing … without any input from Chad.
Pharrell’s team also claimed they reached out to Chad on multiple occasions with no response … it’s clear these dudes aren’t really speaking to each other anymore.
Together they scored loads of hits with Jay-Z, N.O.R.E., Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg and many more superstars.
Their output as a duo slowed up around 2013 when Pharrell went solo and dropped his Diamond-selling “Happy” hit, but their robust legacy still got them inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.
With so much history, you’d think these guys would skip the lawyers, and just hop on the phone to hash things out.
No one ever really dies, but their chemistry sure did!
