Jelly Roll is potentially going to court over alleged copyright infringement. A band Jellyroll filed a lawsuit against the singer for using the name Jelly Roll. They claimed to have copyrighted the name years before Jelly Roll started using it. However, it's not the first time the singer faced copyright trouble.
Jelly Roll fell on the bad side of Waffle House early in his career. The popular chain threatened to sue him in 2013 because he used their logo on one of his mixtapes.
Jelly Roll released a mixtape called Whiskey, Weed, and Waffle House, which featured the Waffle House logo on the front. It only took a few weeks for the chain to slap Jelly Roll with a cease and desist order. On March 22, 2013, Jelly Roll explained what happened on Facebook. "Yesterday I received a certified Cease and Desist letter from Waffle House telling me that I have 10 days to respond and take down everything that has anything to do with their name," he wrote.
"WOW," he continued. "I never thought in a million years that I would ever get popular enough to ever get in trouble with Waffle House, especially only 20 days after releasing the mixtape!!!"
To avoid going to court, the singer ended up changing the title to Whiskey Weed and Women and also removing the logo. At the time, he wrote, "Thank y'all for the love. In 20 days because of y'all, we have managed to piss off one of the biggest chain restaurants in America. WHISKEY WEED AND WAFFLE HOUSE!!!!!" he concluded.
Jelly Roll Faces Court Case
However, it's far unlikely that the singer will do the same thing. The singer has built a career around his stage name and so far has ignored their cease and desist orders to change his name.
The band wrote, "We have become aware of, and you may have heard of, another 'Jelly Roll', who has recently gained some fame in the country music scene - Jason DeFord, the Nashville area crossover singer-songwriter. It's imperative that we avoid confusion for our band that has been performing as JELLYROLL® for over 40 years."
The band claims that the singer has negatively impacted their own business.
They wrote, "Therefore, we have an obligation to inform the public that Mr. DeFord performing as "Jelly Roll" is misleading, and an infringement on our band's JELLYROLL® trademark. We have run into issues with our social media accounts, search engine optimization, Google Ads, as well as overall brand recognition."
