We are in March 2021. Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay are constantly vaded. Jurders on their scooter, they crisscross the north of Paris. It was here that the Justice group was born in 2003his identity, his trademark. A sound that is between Daft Punk and Metallica. Learned mixture of nostalgia and novelty, which has found its most beautiful expression in its eponymous disc, Justice, a worldwide success.
But at the beginning of 2021, the justices came out of the radars of the adolescents. It’s a shame, because since the death certificate of the Daft Punk, the French Touch is looking for its new hero. It was then that the news hits the duo’s door. Gaspard and Xavier, as well as Pedro Winter, their manager, note on social networks that Justin Bieber is about to release his eighth album, entitled Justiceand whose cover reproduces almost the logo of our favorite group. The disc is announced with great fanfare. Justin Bieber floods the world of communication, derivative products, with crosses of justice “to justice”.
To begin with, Pedro Winter makes fun of Bieber on his Instagram that he designates “artistic director of the Justice group”. But justice do not want to stop there. On March 12, 2021, the lawyers of the group put Universal France, the Bieber label, to cease any exploitation of the justice logo on the album, to remove any reproduction of the logo accessible to the French public. Universal does not care. A few days after the discharge of the disc, the group’s lawyers asked to be heard by the judge in summary proceedings. In the language of lawyers, it is the judge of emergency and evidence.
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Justin Bieber “Justice”
April 15, 2021, 1:30 p.m., Paris judicial court. Justice ask the judges of summary proceedings that Universal ceases all marketing of the Disc of Justin Bieber and to allocate them 450,000 euros in damages. The word is in defense. First argument, Universal searched the drawers’ funds and argues that the famous logo does not belong to justice, but to Somi, the artistic director of the Ed Banger label. Proof of this is, Universal has exhumed interviews from the DA who explain that it is behind the justice pictogram. Justice find this light argument. They assert a certificate from Somi who says the opposite of what Universal advances. Somi claims that the drawing he made is only the execution of an idea of the two founders of the group. The argument falls into the water. But on the merits, what about? Can the public really confuse the work of Bieber and justice?
No, for the judges who argue that the Bieber cross is not used in the same way as on justice albums. The graphics are different, one presents a sinuous character, the other is part of a linear block. Also, is there unfair competition and parasitism? Is it shown that Bieber used the notoriety of justice and his famous cross? The judge reasons, a black pictogram on a black background is not an exclusive attribute of the Justice group? The advice of Universal and Bieber break the point home. Metallica, Marilyn Manson or Rammstein use the cross. Finally, the statistics plead for Bieber. Justice, 175,000 Instagram subscribers and 2,285,000 listeners per month on Spotify. Justin Bieber, 169 million Instagram subscribers and 72 million listeners per month on Spotify.
The justices have lost. Justin Bieber triumphed. No pity for little Frenchies. God inja canada. Only the figures speak. This is the law of rock.
