Singer Files Counterclaim Against 'Storage Wars' Star in Battle over 'Yuuup!'
R&B singer Trey Songz is battling Storage Wars personality Dave Hester in a lawsuit over rights to profit from the word “Yuuup!”
Songz filed a counterclaim earlier this month in Hester’s trademark suit against the singer and songwriter, report the New York Daily News and TMZ. Hester, who shouts “Yuuup!” as he bids on abandoned storage lockers in the reality show, obtained a trademark on the term in December. Both personalities make money on clothing with the term.
Songz, whose real name is Tremaine Neverson, says in court papers that he started using the slogan in July 2009 and his “verbalization of the word is well known to consumers,” the Daily News says.
But Hester maintains there is no consumer confusion. According to his complaint, “Neverson’s [version] resembles an animal-like or nonhuman squeal which begins with a distinct ‘yeeee’ sound before finishing with a squeal-like ‘uuuup’ sound, and is distinct and different from Hester’s more monosyllabic-sounding guttural auction bidding phrase.”
