#Fill Up Trademark: Business investment or Strategic Marginalization?

Refiloe Phoolo, popularly known as Cassper Nyovest, has found himself in the center of a controversial debate; after having threatened to sue Tsonga musician, Benny Mayengani. Cassper threatened to take legal action against the Tsonga musician after he had used the trademark, ‘’FillUP’’, to promote his own event.

It is now known to the public that Cassper Nyovest cannot fulfil his threat to sue because the trademark is not registered yet. Cassper did however apply for the trademark but unfortunately on his side, it had not been registered when Benny Mayengani made use of it to promote his event.

The controversial debate that resulted from this is whether Cassper Nyovest was acting out of the interest of his business investment or if he was just trying to dim the light of other musicians. Artists like Simphiwe Dana backed Cassper Nyovest, claiming that it made no business sense to successfully popularize and invest in a concept only so that other people could benefit from it.

On the other side of the fence, Julius Malema of the EFF labelled Cassper a bully for threatening to sue Benny Mayengani. A lot of those who concur with Julius Malema make the claim that it is rather embarrassing that an artist as renowned as Cassper Nyovest would want to marginalize other musicians.

With the festive season fast approaching, many artists are hoping to promote their music while entertaining the masses. It is no secret that Cassper has inspired many artists to #FillUp stadiums and in that regard, it would be more beneficial, than not, if other artists were allowed to use Cassper’s soon to be trademark without negating the fact that the concept is his own musical genius.