Deadmau5 Gets Into Trademark Battle with Ferrari

Has anyone forgotten how popular foul-mouthed DJ Deadmau5 made the news (again) for a high-profile trademark lawsuit with Ferrari after an ill-made decision to modify his Ferrari 458 into a Nyan Cat-themed car and rebranding it “Purrari”?

Well, if you don’t remember this, read more and get refreshed by checking out why Deadmau5 was sued and why this move is actually a brilliant attention-seeking move by the infamous rapper.

Deadmau5: Canadian Viral Superstar
Joel Thomas Zimmerman, popularly known as “Deadmau5” (pronounced as “dead mouse”), is a popular Canadian dj, electronic music producer, and musician. His shot to fame is actually pretty interesting because he is one of the only musicians that became known to the public because of going viral, not because he was connected to any major music label and had strings to pull to get his music noticed.

Nyan Cat “Purrari” Lawsuit
Who doesn’t know Nyan Cat? This cute, pixelated animation of a cat became so popular in YouTube that almost everybody had something Nyan Cat-themed, be it wallpaper, a screensaver, or for other people, their phone case.

A phone case is acceptable but Deadmau5 took it to the highest level by modifying his Ferrari 458 and turned it into a rainbow and light blue, Nyan Cat-themed car. What made it worse (or cute for some) is that he changed the iconic Ferrari logo and replaced it with a jumping cat. The Ferrari tag at the back was also changed to Purrari.

He took his new Purrari on the Gumball 3000 road rally across Europe and was a sight to see because his car was bright and colorful, drawing the attention of many people (making him, once again, viral).

While this is okay for most people who modify their cars, the lawsuit wasn’t actually caused by just the modification. It all started when he finished the race, and he decided that it was a good idea to put his car up for sale on Craigslist.

Shortly after, he received a letter from Ferrari’s lawyers, giving him a strong word of warning—a well-written cease and desist letter, which caused this infamous viral rapper to “unwrap” his car. The public was informed of this through his twitter account that said that he hopes the lawyers of Ferrari are “un-butthurt” after he removed all the Purrari stuff he put on it.

Accidental or Strategically On Purpose?
While it can be said that Deadmau5 did not in fact do this on purpose, it is interesting to learn more about how he became popular. A great example would be his IP dispute with Disney over his mouse ears logo, which also made him viral.

This begs the question, is Deadmau5 doing this as part of his media and attention-seeking strategy? Since he never relied on connection, his quick shot to fame happened because he went viral. It is also interesting because he did follow Ferrari’s lawyers and unwrapped his car, but couldn’t he have consulted his lawyers first before even modifying his vehicle?

With all of this situation he’s put himself into, we cannot decide whether to call him extremely stupid or actually smart and strategic. What do you think? Let’s see what else Deadmau5 does in the next few years and hopefully, he doesn’t go to jail.

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