JAY-Z Challenges Roc Nation Logo Lawsuit On Racial Grounds

JAY-Z got sued last year when he put the Roc Nation logo on some apparel that he co-branded with Major League Baseball.

Hov had already sold the merchandising rights for the Roc Nation logo as part of the $204 million deal he made with the Iconix Brand Group and Iconix is arguing his deal with MLB violates IP they now own.

Instead of going to court, JAY and Iconix agreed to settle the case in arbitration. But none of the initial list of 200 arbitrators the two sides were to chose from to adjudicate the case were black, a situation HOV's lawyers objected to. 

So an additional six black arbitrators were added to the list.  However, at least one of them has a conflict of interest and can't be selected.

The two sides were supposed to submit their preferred arbitrators by November 30th. Now Hov's lawyers are asking for a restraining order so they can examine the background of the other five African American arbitrators to determine if they are eligible.