The Source Sends Cease & Desist Letter To Hip Hop Weekly

The battle between

The Source and its former co-owners David Mays and Ray "Benzino"

Scott continues, as the new owners of The Source have sent a cease and

desist notice to the pair’s new venture, Hip Hop Weekly.The

letter, which was sent to executives at Hip Hop Weekly and Mays’ attorney

David J. Finkler on behalf of The Source Enterprises, is dated Jan. 11. The

Source accuses the recently launched Hip-Hop tabloid of trademark infringement

and unfair competition. At

issue is Hip Hop Weekly’s header in bold above the magazine’s title which

exclaims "brought to you by the founders of The Source." "The

concern for The Source is that the masthead of Hip Hop Weekly is

a problem because it creates some confusion as to whether or not the magazine

has an affiliation with The Source," The Source’s attorney

Andy I. Corea told AllHipHop.com. "If you saw a restaurant and it had on

the sign ‘from the creators of the Big Mac, you would have every reason to think

the company had an affiliation with McDonald’s. That’s how we feel about that

language. You are entitled to make true statements and there is nothing that we

are trying to do to interfere with the magazine, we just want some changes to

that language in the masthead to prevent people from thinking that Hip Hop

Weekly

has an affiliation with The Source. We are open to other options,

we just want people to know Hip Hop Weekly is not affiliated with The

Source."The

letter also states that Hip Hop Weekly is benefiting from an association

with The Source that could possibly dilute The Source brand name."We

just received the cease and desist letter and we are evaluating it," Hip

Hop Weekly’s

attorney David J. Finkler told AllHipHop.com. "I don’t think

there is any merit to the letter on first glance. I don’t think that anyone can

deny that Dave and Ray were the creators of The Source. We will respond

accordingly."Mays

founded The Source in 1988 in his Harvard dorm room with former partner

Jon Shecter. In

2006, The Source defaulted on an $18 million dollar loan while Mays and

Scott were running the company. They

were ousted from The Source in 2006 after a court battle and were replaced

by a board of directors from investors with the Black Enterprise/Greenwich Street

Partners.The

pair formed Global Hip Hop Media in 2006 and launched their biweekly tabloid publication,

Hip Hop Weekly. The

publication recently announced nationwide distribution and can be found on news

stands, in Wal-Marts and in various drug and book stores across the United States.The

Source’s

cease and desist letter calls for Hip Hop Weekly to immediately

halt printing the phrase and The Source is also demanding a retraction

from Hip Hop Weekly in the next issue. Page 1 of The

Source’s

cease and desist letter against Hip-Hop WeeklyPage 2 of The

Source’s

cease and desist letter against Hip Hop Weekly