Dr. Dre's Lawsuit With This Gynecologist Has The Internet Crying Real Tears Of Laughter
It’s not every day that someone confuses a women’s health physician with a legendary rap icon lauded across the West Coast hip-hop scene like, say, Dr. Dre.
The Compton-raised emcee apparently doesn’t think so, however, after fighting a lengthy legal trademark battle with Pennsylvania-based gynecologist Dr. Drai (pronounced the exact same way as the moniker belonging to the former N.W.A. member) over the namesake. According to The Washington Post, Dre entered the lawsuit with the gynecologist and media personality, real name Draion M. Burch, citing brand mix-ups and confusion from music consumers who could be mistaken when purchasing products or services from the respective doctors. Burch originally filed a trademark for “Dr. Drai” and “Doctor Drai OBGYN and Media Personality,” given his role hosting sex education classes and seminars and selling audio books.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, however, doesn’t believe Dr. Dre provided enough basis for his argument, which also held that the type of items Dr. Drai sold (such as MP3 files, magazines, books, etc.) were “sufficiently related” to his moniker given that he works in the entertainment, and more narrowly, the music industry.
Burch received a cease and desist letter from the “Still D.R.E.” rapper, a move he said he was “appalled” by.
“I was hurt that someone was attacking me in my position as being a doctor,” the gynecologist reportedly said. “When I became a physician and I graduated from medical school, I became Dr. Drai, obviously because I’m actually a physician.”
Makes a lot of sense, and fortunately, the men can both do away with the legal strife and move on, despite Dre leaving the court room with an unfavorable ruling.
Now that that’s over, the internet just wants to know one thing: will the real Dr. Dre/Drai please stand up?
See their hilarious reactions to the Dr. Dre versus Dr. Drai legal case below.