Pharrell Williams It is Chad Hugo sold millions of records together as The Neptunes, but the two Virginia hitmakers are currently embroiled in a legal war over the use of the group’s name.
Newly unearthed court documents show Chad opposing a trademark application from Pharrell’s company PW IP Holdings to secure the rights to “The Neptunes” for music videos and other downloadable entertainment.
Pharrell’s representatives told Billboard he was simply doing everything he could to make sure no one on the outside knew the Neptunes’ name, but Hugo’s lawyer Kenneth D. Freundlich went so far as to declare that Pharrell committed fraud by leaving his client’s name out of the process…without any input from Chad.
Pharrell’s team also stated that they have reached out to Chad on multiple occasions with no response… it’s clear these guys are no longer on speaking terms.
Together they scored many hits with Jay-Z, NO, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg and many more stars.
Their output as a duo slowed around 2013 when Pharrell went solo and released his diamond-selling hit “Happy,” but their robust legacy still landed them in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.
With so much history, you’d think these guys would ignore the lawyers and just pick up the phone to sort things out.
Nobody really dies, but their chemistry sure did!