Dianna Williams Addresses Southern University Cease And Desist Letter

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Dianna Williams, the choreographer who rose to fame on Lifetime’s “Bring It!,” is embroiled in a heated legal battle with Southern University and social media’s weighing in.

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Recently, the HBCU slammed Williams with a cease and desist letter for trademarking the name Dancing Dolls, which just so happens to be the name of her famous Mississippi-based dance team and a name she’s been using for over 20 years.

According to multiple reports and Williams herself, the university claimed that they were already using the trademark via their heralded Fabulous Dancing Dolls dance team that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019.

The school allegedly wasn’t happy with the Doll House Dance factory owner for filing a trademark for Dancing Dolls years after Lifetime’s “Bring It” ended in 2019.

Williams has since denied the allegations and she recently addressed the legal kerfuffle on a fiery Instagram live session.

Dianna Williams Explains Dancing Dolls Trademark Battle

According to the star, Southern University filed for the Dancing Dolls trademark in 2019, but they never sent her any legal notice about using the name.

“Nobody ever sent anything to me. I never received any opposition,” she continued.

“I probably would have never said anything anyway. Do you know why? Because there are so many dance teams, middle school, high school elementary children, whose teams are called the Dancing Dolls. So when you attack one, you come for all of us. But oh wait. You only came for me because my name is the most relevant in the situation. That’s f*cked up!” she told her fans.

Then, Williams thought ahead of her competition and filed for the trademark under a different class. According to the star, under class 35, she can now use the Dancing Dolls trademark for apparel, like socks, bags, and hats. Williams also secured the name “DD4L” and “Buck or Die,” so she could protect the name and image of her dance competitions.

Here’s where things get extra petty, the bustling entrepreneur added that she even trademarked Southern University’s “Fabulous Dancing Dolls” name.

“’See the serial numbers. It’s going to take about 3 or 5 days to show up in the USPTO,” the TV personality gloated. “My business owns it. Fabulous Dancing Dolls, my business owns your name now for the usage of dance events, live visual performances. The same class you trademarked ‘Dancing Dolls’ in, now I got ‘Fabulous.’”

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Now, Southern University allegedly won’t be able to put Dancing Dolls on their merch and they can no longer operate under the name Fabulous Dancing Dolls because Williams legally owns it!

“This has been a message of setting boundaries. This has been a message of saying no,” she said, before adding:

“This is a message to the graduating class of 2022 because I have graduated to a new level of business!”

Yikes!

Dianna Williams talked more in-depth about the legal move during an interview on the “Off Script” show. According to the coach, her Dancing Dolls team has participated in events on campus at Southern University in the past and no one said anything about the name discrepancy until now.

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