T.I. has been hit with an mental property theft lawsuit over his upcoming film Situationships, with an internet collection producer claiming the title is lifted from her personal mission of the identical identify.
The rapper (Clifford Harris Jr.) faces trademark infringement claims in a criticism filed Wednesday (June 18) by Featherstone Leisure, an Atlanta-based manufacturing firm run by a creator named Cylla Senii.
Senii has made two seasons of the scripted net collection Situationships, which chronicles the ups and downs of millennial courting. The present launched on YouTube in 2016 and has since been distributed by BET Digital, Amazon Prime and Tubi.
In response to the criticism, Senii labored between 2019 and 2024 to develop each TV present and film variations of Situationships. However within the fall of 2024, she says, she was shocked to study that T.I. and his firm, Grand Hustle Movies, have been about to start out filming their very own comedy movie referred to as Situationships, written, directed by and starring the rapper.
“Defendants are partaking in a typical scheme and energy to make the most of the general public’s affiliation of Featherstone’s ‘Situationships’ model by advertising their very own movie and entitling it ‘Situationships,’” writes Senii’s lawyer.
The lawsuit claims T.I.’s alleged infringement is intentional. Senii’s lawyer notes that one collaborator she labored with to develop her Situationships present is a detailed good friend of T.I.’s household, and that one other producer with whom she mentioned the mission is now engaged on the rapper’s film.
Senii says this habits is “ironic” after T.I. and his spouse Tameka “Tiny” Harris’ current $71 million trial win of their long-running mental property battle towards toymaker MGA, which took subject with dolls supposedly modeled after their teen pop group OMG Girlz.
“Sadly, T.I. is partaking in the identical conduct he fought so vigorously to guard himself from in his personal mental property lawsuit,” writes Senii’s lawyer.
The lawsuit says Senii despatched T.I. a cease-and-desist letter in December 2024, however he by no means responded. Senii has additionally challenged T.I.’s quite a few makes an attempt to acquire a trademark for “Situationships,” with one among T.I.’s purposes getting preliminarily rejected in Could after an examiner discovered there was a probability of confusion with the net collection mark.
Senii is now levying a slew of claims towards T.I. and Grand Hustle Movies for trademark infringement, unfair competitors and civil conspiracy. She’s looking for an injunction that may bar him from releasing his film below the moniker “Situationships” in addition to unspecified monetary damages.
Reps for the rapper and Grand Hustle Movies didn’t instantly return a request for touch upon the lawsuit.