'This Is Our Turf Now': Aussie Business Wins Trademark Case Against Kanye West

Aussie IT business Your Easy Web Solutions (YEWS) has won a trademark case against Kanye West.

In a new Yahoo Finance article, the company’s owner, Alexei Kouleshov, expressed “surprise” after West – who now goes by the name Ye – sought to trademark the name YEWS.

West reportedly filed 26 trademark applications in a California court for exclusive rights to the title YEWS and the aim to host a project for “music, sport, fashion and gambling”. However, Kouleshov managed to trademark YEWS for Your Easy Web Solutions.

Speaking with A Current Affair, Kouleshov said, “Sorry, Kanye. We've got the legal ground to stand on, in order to defend our name.”

“Seven months later, which is how long it takes for a trademark to actually finalise, we got it.

He added, “Every small business should definitely fight for their name if they come into a situation like this. Kanye, this is our turf now.”

This isn’t the first time West has lost a case against an Australian business.

Last year, Justice Shaun McElwaine dismissed a lawsuit West filed against a Melbourne burger shop called College Dropout Burgers, as West had taken "no steps whatsoever” to progress the litigation.

In the lawsuit, West demanded that owner Mark Elkhouri paint over a mural of the US rapper, erase the logo of his restaurant that was inspired by the College Dropout album cover, and abandon menu items that play on West's song titles.

The shop’s old menu had a fried chicken burger called Golddigger, a breakfast burger named Good Morning and a Cheezus burger named after his album Yeezus.

Kanye West isn’t the only star who’s come up against an Australian business and lost.

Australian designer Katie Jane Taylor (real name Katie Perry) sued the American pop singer Katy Perry after she attempted to bring her “Katy Perry” fashion line to Australia when the Aussie already trademarked and sold clothing via her “Katie Perry” brand. The Federal Court ruled in Taylor’s favour in 2007.

After a longtime legal battle that continued into 2019, Katy Perry appealed the decision last year.

In 2017, Kylie Minogue won a legal battle against Kylie Jenner after the American businesswoman attempted to trademark the name “Kylie”.