Eazy-E’s Widow and Son in Legal Battle Over Ruthless Records Trademark
By Evan Minsker.
Eazy-E’s widow and son are in a legal battle over the late rapper’s label Ruthless Records, Billboard reports. Compton Records, owned by the rapper’s widow Tomica Woods-Wright, filed a trademark lawsuit on Tuesday against Eazy-E’s son Eric Darnell Wright (aka Lil Eazy-E) and Arnold E. White (aka Bigg A). The lawsuit claims that Compton Records owns the rights to the Ruthless Records name and alleges that Wright and White have been selling Ruthless merch after having an application rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Woods-Wright and Compton Records describe the defendents’ conduct as “malicious, fraudulent, deliberate, and/or willful.” They’re seeking punitive damages, statutory damages, and legal fees.
Ruthless Records released several classic hip-hop albums, including N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-E’s Eazy-Duz-It, J.J. Fad’s Supersonic, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s E. 1999 Eternal.
Read Pitchfork’s feature on Eazy-E’s It’s on (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa and “Who Got the Camera? N.W.A’s Embrace of ‘Reality,’ 1988-1992.”
This story originally appeared on Pitchfork.
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