Jan. 16 (UPI) — Rihanna is suing her father for falsely using the family name Fenty, which is also the name of her beauty line.
The singer filed the lawsuit in federal court in California, arguing that her father, Ronald Fenty, and his business partner, Moses Joktan Perkins, are using the Fenty name for their own Fenty Entertainment business without her permission.
Rihanna, real name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, trademarked the name in 2014 for Fenty Beauty, a makeup brand.
Rihanna says her father and Perkins are using the Fenty name to trick businesses and investors into thinking Rihanna is involved with Fenty Entertainment and would perform at various venues around the world. She is suing for false designation of origin, false advertising and invasion of her rights of privacy and publicity.
“Mr. Fenty and Mr. Perkins have used these lies in a fraudulent effort to solicit millions of dollars from unsuspecting third parties in exchange for the false promise that they were authorized to act on Rihanna’s behalf, and/or that Rihanna would perform at various locations throughout the world,” attorney Carla Wirtschafter writes in the complaint.
“Simply put, Mr. Fenty, Mr. Perkins and the Company are not presently, nor have they ever been, authorized to exploit Rihanna’s name, her intellectual property or the goodwill associated with her well-known ‘Fenty’ brand, or to solicit any business on her behalf,” she continued.
Rihanna has sent multiple cease-and-desist orders that were reportedly ignored. She is asking for an injunction against her father to stop using the Fenty name.
