Rap group Wu-Tang Clan has filed suit against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Hockey Club for copyright and trademark infringement due to T-shirts the club team made this year.
“This conflict is nothing new to us,” de-facto leader of Wu-Tang Clan RZA said. “We cause more family feuds than Richard Dawson.”
The T-shirts that led to the suit feature items the Wu-Tang Clan says the club used illegally.
The shirt’s front has a tilted “W”, known as the Wu-Tang Clan logo, with “UW-P Hockey” written across it. The back of the shirt has the lyrics, “If you want beef / then bring the ruckus,” lyrics from one of Wu-Tang Clan’s most popular songs, “Wu-Tang Clan ain’t Nuthing ta Fuck Wit.”
“We know that we slam tracks like quarterback sacks from L.T., but we take our intellectual property laws seriously, and we feel that these shirts infringe on our rights as artists,” Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck said.
UW-Platteville Hockey Club members have been instructed to not comment on the matter until the cases reaches a conclusion in court.
“It’s not surprising they’re staying quiet,” RZA said. “There’s no place to hide once I step inside the room. Dr. Doom, prepare for the boom.”
Wu-Tang Clan will be represented by their legal branch, RZA, GZA and Associates, which was started in 2004 with the launch of Wu-Tang Financial.
Other members of the Wu-Tang Clan Method Man and Raekwon feel the suit follows the wishes of deceased member Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
“I remember once O.D.B. said he would rather die than see our art being used for shameless self-promotion,” Method Man said. “Looks like he got his wish.”
The fate of the case will rest on Wu-Tang Clan’s ability to prove that the UW-Platteville Hockey Club’s use of their work falls outside of the fair use doctrine that provides exceptions to the copyright laws.
“This is a very touchy subject. It’s going to be an interesting case, because if the Hockey Club didn’t profit from the shirts, then it will be hard to prove the use of Wu-Tang Clan’s materials constituted a damage to Wu-Tang,” said YOUR TITLE Dr. Robert Snyder, who teaches communication law at UW-Platteville.
The case is to be heard by a federal district court next month.
“What do these white, 20-year-old engineering students know about bringing the ruckus anyway?” RZA said.
Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah expressed confidence in Wu-Tang Clan’s chances in the case.
“I think that once a judge hears our case, it’s going to be, ‘Konichiwa, bitches.’”
