Robert Clivillés, whose last name is one of the two C’s in the name C+C Music Factory, filed a federal lawsuit against the current owner of the C+C Music Factory name, rapper Fredrick “Freedom” Williams, on Friday.
In the filing obtained by Rolling Stone,
Clivillés alleges Williams — who provided raps for the hits “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” and “Things That Make You Go Hmmm…” — has committed trademark infringement and fraud with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, misrepresented himself as a founding member of the group, and made money off the group’s name without authorization, among other charges. Clivillés is seeking at least $30 million in damages and wants Williams to stop using the trademark.
“The name C+C Music Factory stands for Clivillés and Cole Music Factory. It refers exclusively to Robert Clivillés and David Cole, who created the group in New York City in 1990 and are the sole members of C+C Music Factory,” the suit claims. “Defendant Freedom Williams served exclusively as a featured guest artist on specific recordings. … Mr. Williams was never a founder, co-owner, or a signed group member of C+C Music Factory.”
The filing claims Williams had only a production contract with Clivillés and Cole and that ended in 1992 but that Williams began using the C+C Music Factory name for himself in 1996, the year after Cole died at age 32. “Williams has been performing without authorization under the C+C Music Factory name, obtaining fraudulent trademark registrations in a name that refers to two other people, collecting five thousand to ten thousand dollars per unauthorized show worldwide, and most recently releasing commercial recordings and expanding the unauthorized use of the brand to entirely new parties,” the suit alleges.
A rep for Williams did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Clivillés and Cole met in the mid Eighties and had worked together under several names until formalizing C+C Music Factory when Clivillés wanted to release a song he’d written, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).” “The foundational creative origin of C+C Music Factory therefore rests with Robert Clivillés as its originator, with David Cole joining as co-creator and partner,” it claims. The duo then signed a deal with Sony before even working with contributing artists.
Clivillés met Williams around 1987 when the latter was interning at a recording studio and by 1989 they formed a friendship that led to Williams featuring on a Clivillés-produced single by a group called Seduction. In 1990, he claims Williams signed a deal with C+C Music Factory to be a “featured vocalist for hire, not a member.”
The suit claims that there are two types of recording acts, those driven by its members like Earth, Wind and Fire and Boyz II Men and “the producer-driven featured artist model, exemplified by acts such as Quincy Jones, Giorgio Moroder, and David Guetta, where a primary creative force produces recordings featuring different guest vocalists and performers on a track-by-track basis, with the featured performers identified separately from the core brand.” It cites recent examples like David Guetta “featuring Sia,” Calvin Harris with Rihanna, and Tiësto with Tate McRae.
In 2005, the lawsuit alleges Williams registered the trademark “C AND C MUSIC FACTORY” but that it was canceled in 2012. He applied for “C&C MUSIC FACTORY” in 2014 and allegedly misrepresented himself as the sole owner of the trademark. “Plaintiff Clivillés created the mark in 1990 and has continuously used it in commerce since that date,” the lawsuit states. “Williams knew this.” Nevertheless, the Patent and Trademark Office granted Williams the mark in 2015. Clivillés began trying to get it back in 2016.
The tipping point came this past May when Williams posted a video to the C+C Music Factory Instagram account in which he “made statements invoking Adolf Hitler, used repeated racial slurs, and directed vulgar and sexually degrading language at members of the public,” while saying that C+C Music Factory would perform at President Trump’s Freedom 250 concert series. (Another filing by Clivillés seeking an injunction against Williams describes this as “the toilet video,” since Williams filmed it in his bathroom.) Williams also put out a new song under the name C+C Music Factory, “Into the Future,” in June.
Clivillés wants a jury trial to determine his right to the trademark.
In the “toilet video,” Williams said his decision to perform at the Freedom 250 concert series, which was ultimately scrapped, had nothing to do with politics. “I don’t fuck with Trump,” he said. “I don’t give a fuck about Trump. I don’t give a fuck about Trump’s family. I don’t know the n—a. I’m from New York. I know the type of anarchy he creates. But the day I let you motherfuckers tell me what to do is the day I die.” He said he’d vote for Genghis Khan, Hitler, and “motherfucking Ivan the Terrible before I let you n—as tell me what to motherfucking do.”
Clivillés made a statement at the time saying that Williams was “misrepresenting C&C Music Factory” and that the group “does not participate nor side with any specific political party.”
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