Viral giants of the early YouTube era, OK Go, were sued by American breakfast cereal manufacturer Post earlier this year in the company's venture to trademark a line of to-go cereal cup products called OK GO! As Billboard reports, the band and corporation have now reached a "confidential settlement agreement," asking a Minnesota judge to dismiss a lawsuit gone stale.
The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, but the filing states that the legal drama was resolved on grounds "agreeable to all parties." Both sides of the dispute have covered their own legal bills.
OK Go shared a statement on the matter on social media yesterday (June 4), writing, "The litigation with Post over the OK GO trademark was resolved pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement and Post has agreed to withdraw its application to register 'OK GO!' as a trademark with the United States Patents and Trademark Office."
The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, but the filing states that the legal drama was resolved on grounds "agreeable to all parties." Both sides of the dispute have covered their own legal bills.
OK Go shared a statement on the matter on social media yesterday (June 4), writing, "The litigation with Post over the OK GO trademark was resolved pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement and Post has agreed to withdraw its application to register 'OK GO!' as a trademark with the United States Patents and Trademark Office."
The band had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Post last September, explaining they were "surprised and alarmed" by the name of the cereal manufacturer's new product line and asking Post to choose a different name. The pop-rock group's legal representation claimed that the corporation was infringing on the trademark rights to the band's name, potentially suggesting to consumers that OK Go were endorsing the product or wrongly implying that Post had received their permission to be the namesake of portable Cocoa Pebbles.
In January, Post sued OK Go, asking a federal judge for a declaratory judgement to pre-emptively rule that the cereal conglomerate hadn't done anything wrong by naming the product line OK GO!
"A big corporation chose to steal the name of our band to market disposable plastic cups of sugar to children," the band shared in a statement at the time. "That was an unwelcome surprise, to say the least. But then they sue US about it? Presumably, the idea is that they can just bully us out of our own name, since they have so much more money to spend on lawyers? I guess that's often how it works, but hopefully, we'll be the exception."
Singer Damian Kulash added on Instagram, "On top of it all, according to Post, this breakfast food is 'ready to rock.' Very classy."
It's hard to say if the exact terms of the agreement will ever come to light — but hopefully an internet-breaking, cereal-filled music video is part of the deal.
