Legal Wrestling Match Between DDP & Jay-Z Continues, Rocawear Added To Lawsuit

The legal wrestling match between wrestler Diamond Dallas Page and Jay-Z continues in court, as the wrestler has added Roc-A-Wear to a trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit.Diamond Dallas Page filed the original lawsuit in December of 2005 in Los Angeles Federal Court, claiming that Jay-Z’s popular Roc-A-Fella diamond hand gesture was illegally adopted from his […]

The legal wrestling

match between wrestler Diamond Dallas Page and Jay-Z continues in court, as the

wrestler has added Roc-A-Wear to a trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit.Diamond

Dallas Page filed the original lawsuit in December of 2005 in Los Angeles Federal

Court, claiming that Jay-Z’s popular Roc-A-Fella diamond hand gesture was illegally

adopted from his patented "Diamond Cutter" symbol. Today

(Dec. 11), a federal judge granted a motion to add Rocawear, Roc Apparel Group

LLC, Urban Menswear LLC and Rocawear Licensing LLC to the lawsuit, which seeks

an injunction to prevent Jay-Z from using the symbol, as well as an unspecified

amount of monetary damages. Page

decided to add Rocawear to the existing lawsuit, after he learned Jay-Z recently

used the hand gesture to market and promote the Rocawear clothing line."Many

athletes and celebrities also flashed the Diamond Cutter sports celebration move,"

states the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles Federal Court. "In Game

6 of the 1998 NBA finals against the Chicago Bulls, Karl Malone, the Utah Jazz

star basketball player, flashed the Diamond Cutter Trademark during the game and

referred to the symbol as Plaintiff’s hand sign. Similarly, former professional

football player and Dallas Cowboy star running back, Herschel Walker used the

Diamond Cutter Trademark after a 64 yard touchdown run and also acknowledged that

it was Plaintiff’s signature trademark." Page,

who is shooting the movie Gallow Walker in South Africa with Wesley Snipes,

says that he used the symbol to promote his DDP character while working for World

Championship Wrestling (WCW) as early as 1996.The

wrestler used the hand gesture just before executing his signature finishing move

in the ring, the "Diamond Cutter."Due

to the popularity of the hand gesture, Page used it in other business endeavors

including a pair of inspirational products including the Yoga For Regular Guys

DVD series and book, and an upcoming audio book titled Own Your Life.