Back in January, the band OK Go got involved in a bizarre lawsuit with Post Foods over the right to use the band’s name for a line of instant cereal cups named OK Go! Now, the two parties have reached a confidential settlement and asked a Minnesota federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit permanently.
According to Billboard, the court filing said the band and the cereal giant had “settled this action on terms agreeable to all parties” without specifying the terms of the agreement in public court records. As such, it’s not clear whether OK Go will be paid or whether the OK Go! brand will continue with a different name.
However, the band itself shared a statement on social media reading, “The litigation with Post over the OK GO trademark was resolved pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement and Post has agreed to withdraw its application to register ‘OK GO!’ as a trademark with the United States Patents and Trademark Office.”
OK Go sent a cease-and-desist letter to Post in September 2022, saying the company’s OK Go! brand name would “suggest to consumers” that the band was endorsing Post’s products. An attorney for Post responded one week later, arguing that the group and breakfast cereal were “clearly unrelated” products.
Post followed up in January by filing a complaint claiming the company would be “unfairly forced to continue investing in its new OK GO! brand while under the constant threat of unfounded future litigation by defendants.” In a statement to Billboard, OK Go said they were caught off guard by the lawsuit and lambasted Post for trying to “bully us out of our own name.”
OK Go appeared in a Season 2 episode of Jack McBrayer’s Apple TV+ children’s series Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show last October. Their last album was 2014’s Hungry Ghosts.
— OK Go (@okgo) June 4, 2023
