During a recent interview on The Breakfast Club with Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy, television personality and recurring cast member of the hit Bravo show, “Real Housewives of Potomac,” Gizelle Bryant talked about her legal battle against Eminem‘s team to trademark the term “Reasonably Shady” for their merchandise line.
“You all know a guy named Paul Rosenberg? We deposed him. It’s almost over. The opposition was, Eminem’s team had me and Robin deposed, so all is fair in love and war, we going to depose Eminem. So, when our side said ‘okay, we need to depose him’ all hell broke loose. They were like ‘oh no, no, never, he does not even know anything about this.’ Well, if he does not know anything about this, why are we here? but that’s a lie. You had to have told him something. So, because of that I think they have decided ‘okay these girls aren’t going away’ and Patent and Trade is gonna settle it. We are at the end of the road. All depositions have been done, all disclosures and yes we have spent a lot of money.” said Gizelle Bryant.
She then continued: “You don’t own the word SHADY. There have been other small companies that have had SHADY in their name and they paid them off to go away. But we are not going to do that or unless y’all didn’t offer us something that could make us go away but we are too far in now. And I don’t even get why would you be doing this to us. Thank God we had money but let’s just say we didn’t and we are just two black women out here to make a dollar out of 50 cents.”
The drama began last year when reality stars Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon attempted to trademark the term “Reasonably Shady” for their merchandise line. Eminem’s team, however, argued that their use of “Shady” would infringe upon his own established brand, built over decades with trademarks like “Slim Shady,” “Shady,” and “Shady Limited.” While Bryant and Dixon denied any association with Eminem’s brand, they pushed for a deposition with Eminem himself. But Em’s legal team was not playing those games. They argued that his extensive cooperation, including handing over 2,500 pages of documents, was sufficient, per In Touch. The United States Patent and Trademark Office Board ultimately sided with Eminem. The need for Bryant and Dixon to gather information was acknowledged but it was also determined that deposing Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg, would be more productive.
The board pointed out that “Mr. Rosenberg, not [Eminem], provided the declaration supporting the motion.” This decision is a major win for Eminem. It protects his brand and avoids the potential for a public spectacle had he been forced to appear in person. While the case is ongoing, Eminem has successfully defended his trademark turf for now. You can watch the new interview below:
