America's Best Dance Crew Goes to Court - Soul Sector vs. MTV and others

The full story:Kevin Barairo (aka Mikey Disco) founded Soul Sector back in 1998 -- a name he says he's trademarked. Among other identifying factors, Barairo claims to have developed a red letterman jacket for his crew, with "SS" on the breast. Barairo claims that one of his former Soul Sector dancers, Christopher Jennings, borrowed Soul Sector's jackets, formed Supreme Soul, and then appeared on America's Best Dance Crew. On the show, Supreme Soul spoke about winning a dance battle against JabbaWockeeZ, which was a Soul Sector achievement but not one for the Supreme Soul crew.

"The suit alleges the show's producers attempted to pressure Barairo to sign over his rights to the name and appearance of his dance crew. When he would not sign, Barairo claims the show responded by having [Supreme Soul] dancers appear in their distinctive jackets" -- but altered the jacket back to remove the Sector logo.

Barairo claims that the actions by MTV and others hurt the reputation of Soul Sector and reduced their merchandise sales and performance bookings. He wants compensation for the loss of "business reputation, customers, market position, confusion of potential customers, and good will."

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