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Chrome Hearts drops lawsuit against Neil Young and his band The Chrome Hearts
Chrome Hearts has dropped its trademark lawsuit against Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts, ending the dispute without a disclosed settlement.
Chrome Hearts has voluntarily dropped its lawsuit against Neil Young and his backing band, The Chrome Hearts, ending a trademark dispute that had been hanging over the singer’s new project since last year.
The Los Angeles-based fashion label, best known for its luxury clothing, jewelry and accessories, filed the infringement suit in September, arguing that Young’s use of the name stepped too close to its own federally registered trademarks. The company said it had never “granted a license” or given Young “any form of permission to use intellectual property belonging to Chrome Hearts,” and accused the defendants of copying its marks “in an effort to exploit Chrome Hearts’ reputation in the market.”
In a court filing on Thursday (May 14), the brand said it was dismissing the case. Whether that came after a settlement or simply because the company chose to abandon the complaint is not clear.
The dispute centered in part on merchandise sold under the name “Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts,” which the fashion company said would “likely cause confusion” in the marketplace. Chrome Hearts had sought an injunction to stop Young from using the name altogether.
Young first introduced the band in 2024, with Micah Nelson, Corey McCormick, Anthony Logerfo and Spooner Oldham in the lineup, and has since recorded and toured with them, including a headline set at Glastonbury last year. The group has become the frame for a busy stretch in Young’s late-career run, one that has already prompted legal scrutiny and, more recently, a finished album.
That record, Young has said, is now complete, and it reportedly includes three songs he wrote 63 years ago. He had already made clear that the project was shaped by his anger at the Trump administration. “Politics today is sad and depressing for me. I can’t do it anymore. I can go out and demonstrate my feelings about it. We have the worst president in the history of our country. Every day a bad TV show produced by DJT is what we get,” he wrote.
He also released a song aimed at Trump, ‘Big Crime’, and told fans earlier this year that the Republican leader was “out of control” and that “we need a real president.”
More recently, Young cancelled his entire UK and European tour, saying “this is not the time” to be on the road. He later clarified the decision when replying to a fan who asked whether “everything is OK,” writing: “All is good Michael. Just needed a break. Listening to my body.”
