Justin Bieber steps into a legal drama after Justice, French electronic music duo of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Canadian singer over the design of his forthcoming album Justice.
Ever since it’s been released, the artwork for Justin’s upcoming album bears resemblance to the group’s official logo. In a letter sent on March 10, the band claim that Bieber’s Justice design copies the band’s trademarked crucifix symbol, dubbed the “Mark” in the cease-and-desist letter.
The letter further reads, “Your use of the Mark is illegal. You have not received permission from Justice to utilize the Mark. Moreover, Bieber’s work is in no way affiliated with, supported by, or sponsored by Justice. Such use of the Mark is not only illegal, but likely to deceive and confuse consumers.”
Bieber’s legal representation team claims they reached out to the band’s management via email on April 29, 2020, wanting to get in contact with the designer who did the band’s logo. “We’re trying to track down the designer who did the below logo for Justice,” the email allegedly reads. “Was hoping you could help point me in the right direction.”
“There was attempts to set up the introduction, and it never happened,” Justice’s co-manager John Scholz explained to Rolling Stone. he mentioned that Bieber’s team stopped responding to messages soon after sending the email. He continued: “Given that we have received emails from them where a member of [Bieber’s] management team specifically attached the Justice logo and asked to connect with the Justice logo designer; they mentioned it was to work on a Justin Bieber project, they did not give us any details about it, no mention of an album called ‘Justice’ or a logo using the word ‘Justice.’”
That ultimately puts the band in a position to send the cease-and-desist letter to Bieber and his team, who “are now subject to immediate legal action and damages including, but not limited to, punitive and injustice relief.”