Pa.-based wedding band Jellyroll sues country star Jelly Roll over name

It's a court battle of Jellyroll vs. Jelly Roll. Let us explain.

A popular Delaware County wedding band is suing country music star Jelly Roll.

The band Jellyroll (no space) has an issue with the name of Grammy-nominated singer Jelly Roll (space).

Now the band is suing the singer in a lawsuit filed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on April 8, 2024.

The band has been singing at local and national venues dating as far back as 1980 and band leader Kurt Titchenell trademarked its name in 2010, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Jason Bradley DeFord started using the Jelly Roll nickname at gigs around the time of 2010, according to the lawsuit. In March DeFord applied for the “Jelly Roll” trademark for use on clothing, according to a pending trademark.

In the suit, the band contends the singer's recent fame is confusing people and is also pushing them lower down in Google searches.

“Prior to the Defendant’s recent rise in notoriety, a search of the name of Jellyroll on most search engines, and particularly Google, returned references to the Plaintiff,” the suit states. “Now, any such search on Google returns multiple references to Defendant, perhaps as many as 18-20 references before any reference to Plaintiff’s entertainment dance band known as Jellyroll® can be found.”

The band, through an attorney, asked the country singer to stop using the name with a late February cease-and-desist letter.

The lawsuit came about after Jelly Roll’s nationwide tour was announced earlier this year, including a stop at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Oct. 2, 2024, according to the suit, which exhibits an advertisement for the concert on WMMR's website.

Lawyers for both Jelly Roll and Jellyroll didn't comment as of Tuesday.