Diddy loses battle over his name

Sunisa 09-15-2006

Rapper Sean Combs has lost the right to use his "Diddy" nickname in the UK.

Combs has agreed an out-of-court settlement after losing a legal battle with Richard Dearlove, a music producer based in London who has been trading under the "Diddy" name since 1992.

Mr Dearlove sued Combs after he discovered that the rap star had dropped the P from his name and relaunched himself as "Diddy".

Combs had also been known as Puff Daddy and Puffy before changing his name to P. Diddy.

Dearlove told The Guardian newspaper: "I suffered from a head injury in 2001, when Sean Combs changed his name to P Diddy. I lost my sight for three years and couldn't work.

"I was all ready to go last year, then, in August, he changed his name to Diddy. I was gutted. I started getting emails from Puerto Rican girls asking if they could be in my video and people were asking me to look at their clothing line.

"My lawyers and I were trying to convince the court there was confusion caused by two people trading under the same name.

"It doesn't matter how big people become. This is my name. I've been successful too. I'm not a global megastar, but what I do is valid. I'm really happy and relieved.

"I didn't want to go to court. It was me versus something enormous and I had a year of stress with legal proceedings hanging over me."

Combs has agreed to pay Dearlove £10,000 damages and more than £100,000 in legal costs - the court will decide on a final figure - as part of the settlement.

The rapper will also have to rebrand himself in the UK, which will also be costly for the hip-hop star.

Requeim

When he changed his name I thought it was the dumbiest thing. Not sure why he changed it to begin with. Most people still refered to his a Puff Daddy. Diddy just sounds retared.

Hypnotize

I agree with you. I didn't like the name change either. As far as I know and can remember no one who talked to him ever refered to him as Diddy anyway so it was all pointless.

BonitaPajarita

Its all just a marketing deploy.

No need to change a good thing. Just stick with the name god gave ya!

Like the old saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".