Photo Courtesy of Now Hip Hop News / Twitter
Cognac brand Rémy Martin and 50 Cent’s spirit brand settled their legal dispute over the rapper’s company’s bottle design.
TMZ stated the settlement’s terms are under wraps, but court documents showed the two settled on June 1.
Rémy Martin sued the “Candy Shop” rapper, filing the lawsuit in August 2021 in Manhattan federal court, arguing that the rapper stole their unique bottle design for his spirit company, Branson Cognac.
The plaintiffs argued that 50 Cent’s liquor brand copied its “toroidal,” jewel-like shape. And they’re worried consumers would get the two confused.
Rémy Martin added that the company had no problem with the rapper jumping into the cognac business but wanted to protect their trade dress.
While the bottles may look similar, Rémy Martin’s is rounder, while Branson’s has a more jewel shape.
According to Sire Spirits’ website, the “copied” bottle belonged to Branson’s XO, Grande Champagne Cognac, “a deep brown cognac with a bronze hue” that’s “elegant and complex, with almost no burn, floral and citrus notes balance seamlessly with hints of tobacco, honey, and chocolate that continue through an incredibly long finish.”
The rapper launched Sire Spirits in 2018 and started selling the XO cognac bottle in 2020.
The bottle that Rémy Martin claimed 50 Cent copied from is their XO bottle, which contains notes of plum, candied orange, mature fig, fresh hazelnuts, cinnamon, roasted cocoa beans, honey, jasmine, ginger, saffron and walnuts. Rémy Martin’s bottle costs $230 for the 750 mL and $646 for the 750 mL bottle with four Markham Marquis by Waterford Double old-fashioned glasses. The 375 mL costs $200. Branson costs between $229 to $244.
According to Vibe, 50 Cent addressed the lawsuit in a since-deleted Instagram post, where he posted a side-by-side picture of the bottles and wrote, “They are afraid of me already. Branson Cognac is the new wave. REMY is #2 behind Henny and worried about Branson smh. I’m just getting started.”