Pa.-based wedding band Jellyroll settles lawsuit with country star Jelly Roll over name, attorney says

A popular Philadelphia-area wedding band that has held the trademark on Jellyroll since 2010 was upset with Google searches leading people to the country artist Jelly Roll as his popularity increases, according to a federal lawsuit that was recently settled

The court battle of Jellyroll vs. Jelly Roll is no more.

The law firm representing the popular Delaware County wedding band Jellyroll announced Tuesday, that the band’s leader, Kurt Titchenell, had settled an intellectual property claim against country music star Jelly Roll.

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

“The dispute with Jason Bradley DeFord, a.k.a. Jelly Roll, has been resolved, and the legal action has been withdrawn,” Titchenell said in a statement release by Blue Bell-based law firm Flamm Walton Heimbach. “We look forward to our continued use of the name, Jellyroll Band, in connection with our party band business.”

The band had sued the singer in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on April 8, 2024.

Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Jelly Roll had a comment about the settlement.

What did Jellyroll claim in initial lawsuit?

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

The band remains active. “The Jellyroll Band performs at more than 100 exclusive weddings, social, charity and corporate events annually,” the law firm statement said.

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 contended the singer’s recent fame confused people and pushed the band 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 stated. “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, had asked the country singer to stop using the name with a late February cease-and-desist letter.