JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville business man has won a lawsuit that will keep famous YouTuber Mr. Beast (real name James Stephen Donaldson) from selling candy under the name 'DEEZ NUTS.'
Brian Ditore owns a company called 'Dees Nuts, LLC.' The company is named after his grandmother, whose nickname was Mrs. Dee, and they sell peanuts. The copyright for the name is registered to Ditore.
Ditore's lawsuit claimed that Mr. Beast's company 'Feastables' was causing confusion and losing sales by selling a chocolate peanut called 'DEEZ NUTS.'
The suit claims that Mr. Beast's brand was monopolizing search traffic that may have otherwise gone to Ditore's company.
The suit shows that searches for "deesnuts" on the Walmart.com website only brought up pictures of Mr. Beast's products. When searching "dees nuts," Walmart.com suggested searching "mr beast," "feastible," and other keywords related to Mr. Beast's product.
The lawsuit alleged that the use of DEEZ NUTS was causing "confusion, mistake, or deception" and therefore infringed on the Dees Nuts copyright.
An injunction stopping Mr. Beast from using the brand name was filed last Wednesday.
The U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, agreed with Ditore. Ruling in his favor, the court barred Mr. Beast from can no longer use the name DEEZ NUTS in any fashion.