Exclusive
Nipsey Hussle‘s family’s stuck in an odd limbo with a Crips company — over a trademark — and it’s got them worried something shady’s going on.
Sources close to the late rapper tell TMZ … his family’s legal conflict with the Crips LLC — yes, the gang’s gone corporate — over the rights to Hussle’s “The Marathon Continues” slogan has carried on, leaving family members frustrated.
Here’s the deal … the Crips organization filed a couple trademarks for the phrase in 2019 — one for clothing and one for various services. Shortly afterward, however, it apologized and vowed to back off, saying it would not get into a legal battle with the family … which has several ‘Marathon’ trademarks of its own related to Nip’s clothing store.
So, it seemed like all would be well, but according to our sources … the Crips didn’t take any action to withdraw its filings, which forced Nip’s family to lawyer up and file oppositions to the trademark applications.
The good news for the family … the Crips didn’t fight the opposition to the clothing trademark application by the deadline, so the application was deemed abandoned earlier this month.
There’s a good chance the same thing will happen with the other application too, but we’re told Crips LLC has gone silent about the issue … which hasn’t been helpful for the family.