Brisbane dad Alexei Kouleshov couldn’t believe it when one of the world’s richest rappers tried to use his business’ trade name.
And it really was a David and Goliath battle, because the Aussie underdog came out on top.
“You won’t believe it! We’ve taken on Kanye West and we won! Check this out,” Kouleshov told A Current Affair while holding his trademark certificate.
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“Taking on a big guy like Kanye, you never expect it to go down too well but the fact this is now here in our hands, I mean, it’s gold,” employee Max added.
With small offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, Kouleshov’s company ‘Your Easy Web Solutions’ is known by its acronym ‘YEWS’.
And that word is what Kanye West, now known as Ye, wanted to trademark.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect us to actually win this,” Max said.
“You might’ve disrupted some of his major plans with whatever he was going to do with [the word] YEWS,” A Current Affair told Kouleshov.
“Sorry Kanye,” Alexei smirked. “We’ve got the legal ground to stand on, in order to defend our name.”
Twenty six trademark applications were filed in California for exclusive rights to the word.
The documents were submitted by the law firm Kanye recently hired on behalf of a company linked to his LA office.
What he wants to do with the phrase isn’t clear, but the documents list almost everything from music, sport, fashion and gambling.
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“He’s got his own agenda. He’s a celebrity. I think a lot of celebrities do like to stir things up,” Kouleshov said.
“Some of his statements are a bit conflicting with our values.”
Kanye’s recent controversial comments and anti-semitic statements are of most concern to the Aussie dad.
So it was either re-brand or risk business reputation but the trademark wasn’t yet a done deal for Kanye, and Kouleshov wasn’t backing down.
“Seven months later – which is how long it takes for a trademark to actually finalise -we got it,” Kouleshov said.
“So you just got there quicker?” A Current Affair asked.
“That’s right,” Kouleshov responded.
“This was just a few hundred bucks – we thought this might turn into a multi million dollar battle,” A Current Affair said.
“Yeah me too. I thought this was going to go crazy,” Kouleshov said.
“Every small business should definitely fight for their name if they come into a situation like this.
“Kanye, this is our turf now,” he joked.