The holding company of OutKast’s André 3000 and Big Boi, High Schoolers LLC, filed the suit in a Georgia federal court last week (September 16). They claim that Ovrkast – real name Silas Wilson – has used the stage name, knowing that it could deceive people into thinking he is associated with them.
In their 31-page complaint, they accuse him of trademark infringement and unfair competition. The Atlanta duo also outlined efforts that they had made up to this point to protect their name and avoid any confusion from listeners.
An example they gave of their likenesses being confused was a 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, where Ovrkast allegedly said that he has noticed that some people “read Ovrkast [as] Outkast”.
OutKast’s trademark company is suing rapper/producer Ovrkast, accusing him of trademark infringement and breaching an agreement that allegedly required him to stop using the “OVRKAST” name by July 15 ⚖️
According to the complaint, Ovrkast had agreed to adopt “OVERKXST” as his… pic.twitter.com/54jHP5KA6U
The duo also said that they contacted Wilson about the name in 2025, and allegedly agreed in July this year that the rapper would go by the name “Ovrkxst” instead – but the rapper did not follow through on this agreement.
“The public has been led to falsely believe that an association exists between Plaintiff and Defendant,” their filing read (via ). “Defendant’s conduct was and is knowing, deliberate, willful, and in bad faith and done with the intent to trade on the goodwill and reputation of Plaintiff.”
Their suit also accused Ovrkast of showing “an intentional, willful, and malicious intent”, and asks the court to put a stop to Wilson using that current name, as well as pay out for breaches of trademark and business laws.
Neither Wilson nor his reps have shared an official statement in response to the lawsuit, although the rapper did share a screenshot of an news article discussing the filing on Instagram, writing in the caption: “I thought it was love? @andre3000 @bigboi (yes this is real)”.
In other OutKast news, at the end of 2024, André 3000 said that OutKast were “further away” from making new music together “than we’ve ever been”.
“I’ll say maybe 10, 15 years ago, in my mind, I thought an OutKast album would happen,” he said at the time. “I don’t know the future, but I can say that we’re further away from it than we’ve ever been.”
The duo were later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper and Soundgarden, and have since dropped a 25th anniversary deluxe reissue of their 2000 album ‘Stankonia’.