Dr Dre lost a trademark battle to a gynaecologist in Pennsylvania called Dr Drai
Gynaecologist Draion M. Burch argued that consumers would be unlikely to confuse him with the music mogul ‘because Dr Dre is not a medical doctor’
By John Lynch
Dr. Dre lost a long-running trademark dispute this week to a Pennsylvania-based gynecologist who was looking to trademark the name Dr. Drai, BBC News reports.
Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, filed a complaint in 2015 against the gynecologist, Draion M. Burch, saying that Burch’s “Dr. Drai” moniker would cause “confusion” in the marketplace, as Burch intended to sell audio books and web seminars using the name.
But the US Patent and Trademark Office dismissed Young’s case in a ruling last week, saying that the music mogul failed to show how people would be misled into buying Burch’s products, according to the BBC.
Burch argued in the case that consumers would be unlikely to confuse him with Young “because Dr. Dre is not a medical doctor nor is he qualified to provide any type of medical services or sell products specifically in the medical or healthcare industry.”
He also stated that an association with Young would be “a bad reflection on me as a doctor,” citing “misogyny and homophobic things” in Young’s rap lyrics, according to The Washington Post.