MF Doom Estate Sues Temu For Knockoff Merch

The estate of MF Doom is suing Chinese e-commerce site Temu on allegations that the company is selling knockoff merchandise of the beloved late rapper.

In the suit, filed in federal court on Monday, Gas Drawls, which owns the rights to MF Doom’s catalog and intellectual property, claimed that Temu “manufactured and sold a myriad of items that are counterfeit or blatant copies of Plaintiff’s artwork, products, trademarks, and intellectual property.”

“Instead of policing its products to guard against infringement,” the suit said, “it chooses to profit from sales of such products, in disregard of artist and brand rights.” In the suit, Gas Drawls called Temu “one of the most unethical companies operating in today’s global marketplace.”

Gas Drawls shared screenshots featuring pages of unofficial MF Doom T-shirts, hats, posters and other types of merchandise on Temu that depict Doom and the famous mask that became synonymous with him. The estate accused Temu of trademark infringement as well as misappropriation of likeness among other claims.

The estate said the MF Doom trademarks “have been damaged by Temu’s knowing and systematic marketing and sale of counterfeit versions of the brand’s trademark of products bearing counterfeit and/or confusingly and/or virtually identical trademarks.”

A representative for Temu didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.

MF Doom remains one of the most beloved figures in all of underground hip-hop nearly five years after he died back in October of 2020. The rapper, whose real name was Daniel Dumile, is celebrated both for his solo works and for his collaborations with producers like Madlib and Danger Mouse.

Gas Drawls is seeking unspecified financial damages and requesting an order that would require Temu to stop selling the counterfeit products, as well as to stop advertising them for sale.