The leader of a Philadelphia wedding band named Jellyroll has agreed to drop a trademark lawsuit he filed earlier this year against rapper-turned-country singer Jelly Roll.
The case accused Jelly Roll (Jason DeFord) of trademark infringement of “Jellyroll” — a name Kurt Titchenell says he's been using for decades for an act Philadelphia Inquirer has been billed as “Philly's favorite wedding band.”
But in a court filing on Tuesday (July 9), Titchnell agreed to voluntarily withdraw his lawsuit for good. In a statement, Titchenell said he had “settled” the matter by reaching an “amicable settlement” with the superstar artist: “We look forward to continuing to use the name, Jellyroll Band, in connection with our party businesses.”
Court records do not confirm that such an agreement was reached. The motion to dismiss the case was not signed by Jelly Roll's lawyers, and instead simply dropped the case against him unilaterally. A spokeswoman for the star did not immediately return a request for comment.
Titchenell sued in April, claiming Jelly Roll's growing popularity — his “Need A Favor” hit No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November — has flooded the market with his name, making it difficult for prospective customers to find Titchenell's complex.
“Prior to the defendant's recent rise to fame, a search of Jellyroll's name … returned references to the plaintiff,” his lawyers wrote in their complaint, which received Advertising sign. “Now, any such Google search returns multiple references to the defendant, perhaps 18-20 references, before any reference to the plaintiff's dance entertainment group known as Jellyroll is found.”
Titchnell claimed to have been using the name for his band since 1980. In 2019 Questioner article about the band's 40th anniversary, the newspaper described Jellyroll as a band that almost every Philadelphian has probably heard at one point or another, at one of thousands of weddings, galas and other public events.
In media interviews, Jelly Roll said his mother gave him the nickname when he was a child. He used the name on a mixtape released in 2003 under the name The Plain Shmear Tapeand then on dozens of subsequent releases over nearly two decades as a little-known Nashville rapper.
The two artists seem to have coexisted peacefully until recently, when Jelly Roll climbed the charts and became a household name. Following his 2021 hit “Son of a Sinner” and last year's “Need A Favor,” he was nominated for Best New Artist at this year's Grammy Awards and won a trio of major honors at this year's Country Music Awards.
In the April lawsuit, Titchnell's lawyers had sought an immediate injunction that would have prevented the star from using the name 'Jelly Roll'. They specifically pointed to an upcoming concert at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center in October: “Despite receiving a demand to cease and desist using plaintiff's registered service mark, defendant ignored that demand.”
