Luxury Brand Chrome Hearts Files Trademark Suit Against Neil Young Over New Backing Band Name

Neil Young performing live. Photo Credit: Billyshiverstick

A Chrome Hearts legal battle is officially underway: The luxury goods company has accused Neil Young of infringing on its trademarks with his new backing band of the same name.

LA-based Chrome Hearts just recently submitted the straightforward action, naming as defendants the members of Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts as well as Young’s Other Shoe Productions.

However, Reprise (which released the group’s June 2025 album) and Warner Music proper aren’t parties to the suit, a large portion of which explores the plaintiff brand’s reach and IP.

Chrome Hearts, the complaint spells out, has scored “numerous celebrated collaborations with famous musicians and other celebrities” – including Drake, Madonna, Rihanna, Cher, and Lou Reed – since setting sail in 1988.

Along the way, the business “has always devoted substantial time, effort, and money to designing, developing, advertising, promoting, and marketing” its high-end items, per the legal text.

To date, the overarching strategy has helped the plaintiff company move north of “a billion dollars worth of products,” the suit emphasizes for good measure.

Bearing in mind those background details – which, to be sure, make up much of the 35-page action – the filing party wasn’t thrilled when Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts hit the road last year.

While it probably doesn’t need saying now, Chrome Hearts isn’t affiliated with and hasn’t given the green light to the group despite the name overlap.

Moreover, the way the plaintiff sees things, the group’s merch infringes on its “exact” trademarks and has purportedly caused some to believe there’s a connection between the brand and the band.

Fast forward to July 2025, when Chrome Hearts says it voiced these IP concerns to Young and his team. Evidently, the communications failed to elicit the sought changes – hence the business’s being “forced to bring this Complaint to protect its valuable and longstanding intellectual property rights.”

Among other things, Chrome Hearts is seeking the profits stemming from the alleged infringement and an order blocking Young’s group from using the contested name in any form.

DMN reached out to Young for comment but didn’t immediately receive a response. In any event, the action is the latest in a series of recent music-space trademark suits.

That includes Apollonia’s name-focused litigation against the Prince estate and, from earlier this week, Twenty One Pilots’ merch-centered complaint against Temu.

Link to the source article – https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/09/12/neil-young-lawsuit-chrome-hearts/