Kobe Bryant is currently battling a pharmaceutical company over the use of his nickname “Black Mamba,” and his lawyer is accusing them of being underhanded with the filing of their documents.
The Blast reports the NBA legend is duking it out with Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, who’s trying to trademark the name “Black Mama HYPERRUSH” for its line of diet pills. It turns out, that Kobe filed his trademark one year after the company did, hence the conflict.
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Plus, according to Hi-Tech, Kobe’s lawyer said the retired star would never sit for a deposition, and if he did it would be like the case involving Lil Wayne.
“Deposing Kobe Bryant would be like Lil Wayne’s deposition,” Kobe’s attorney allegedly stated. “It would be just like that. He’d just be saying ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.'”
In 2012 Wayne was deposed by the attorney of Quincy Jones III, who directed a documentary about the rapper called “The Carter.” But Wayne later filed a suit and said the project was a “scandalous portrayal of him.”
And during that deposition, Weezy refused to answer any questions but did say “I don’t know” repeatedly, which was seen millions of times on video.
Since the initial trademark filing, Kobe’s lawyer submitted new documents and wants the statement about Lil Wayne struck from the record because it was made during settlement talks. Plus, he said it has nothing to do with the case.
The attorney believes that Hi-Tech is using the Wayne comparison to force Kobe into a settlement.
“In reality, the statements made during these settlement discussions were in response to applicant’s threats of deposition, which were made in order to induce KBI to settle, and the motion they filed is replete with completely irrelevant, slander, innuendo and misstatements,” the documents read.
Kobe and Hi-Tech have been fighting since last year, and the hoop star believes if the company was given permission to use the Black Mamba name it would confuse consumers since he’s been using it for most of his professional career.
