To paraphrase Spike Lee ' s " Do the Right Thing " ... Jay-Z wants to see some black faces on a list of potential arbitrators to handle a legal battle over his company ' s logo, and until he does, he wants to pump the brakes on the case.
According to docs, Jay -Z ' s lawyers are requesting a restraining order that would put an immediate halt to the lawsuit Iconix Brand filed against him.
In the docs, Jay -Z ' s attorney , Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan , says they ' ve been given a deadline of Nov . 30 to choose an arbitrator in the case, but the list of candidates they ' ve been given is , quite frankly , too lily white .
Iconix Brand says it paid
$ 204 million for merchandising rights for the Roc Nation logo.
Iconix sued Jay because the logo got slapped on a bunch of MLB gear without its permission.
Both sides have agreed to handle the dispute in arbitration , rather than open court .
However , Jay ' s legal team is clearly concerned the lack of diversity could hurt their chance of getting a fair shake in the case.
In the docs, they say they initially got a list of 200 potential arbitrators , NONE of whom were African -American. After they complained , they got a new list of 6 arbitrators " of color ," but one of them is a partner at the law firm repping Iconix, a clear conflict of interest .
Jay - Z ' s team wants the restraining order so they can determine if the other candidates have similar conflicts.
Bottom line .. . they need more time and more black arbitrators.
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