An Australian company selling beach gear has become swept up in a David and Goliath legal battle with Eminem after the US rapper challenged its use of the name Swim Shady.

Co-founded by director Jeremy Scott and partner Elizabeth Afrakoff, Sydney-based Swim Shady sells beach accessories such as shades, swim bags, towels and boardshorts.

It officially launched in Australia at the end of 2024, and was granted a trademark in the United States earlier this year to use the name Swim Shady.

That’s when it struck a problem. Eminem filed a petition under his real name Marshall B Mathers, asking the US Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the trademark because it is too similar to the nickname Slim Shady which he uses for his dark alter ego.

According to Billboard, which obtained a copy of the September petition, Eminem’s lawyers have argued that Swim Shady is “highly similar” to Slim Shady, which is a “distinctive and famous” nickname linked to the singer’s rap career.

“Consumers and potential consumers, and anyone seeing one of respondent’s products in the marketplace … will assume that the source of the goods emanates from [Eminem],” they wrote.

The rapper has been using the name Slim Shady since the late 1990s and it featured in the title of his 2000 hit The Real Slim Shady. The song, which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100, includes the lyrics “Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?”.

Eminem trademarked the name in the US in 1999, but only filed to trademark it in Australia in January 2025.

Swim Shady has until November 28 to respond to his petition seeking the cancellation of its US trademark, according to a document filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Scott, a former sponsorship director for rugby league club South Sydney Rabbitohs, said in a statement published by The Guardian that he and Afrakoff would fight the petition.

“Swim Shady is a grassroots Australian company that was born … to protect people from the harsh Australian sun,” he said.

“We will defend our valuable intellectual property.”

 

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Swim Shady’s main product is a diamond-shaped, lightweight beach umbrella called the Swim Shady which is designed to provide shade for one person and promises UV protection of UPF 50+.

The company’s website says Scott grew up on the Sydney beaches, with he and Afrakoff coming up with the idea of the “Shady” during a beachside date in 2021 that “turned frustrating due to a cumbersome and outdated beach umbrella”.

“That day sparked the idea for Swim Shady – a lightweight, stylish shade to make beach days effortless,” the couple wrote on an Instagram post that says their original video on TikTok went viral with more than 700,000 views.

Swim Shady’s website says that as well as Australia and the US, it has registered trademarks in China, Europe, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

Billboard reports that Eminem’s lawyers have filed at least six other legal petitions over the Slim Shady trademark, including one relating to the Reasonably Shady podcast hosted by two American Real Housewives stars, and others over a sunglasses brand called Shady Character and clothing brand Shady.

Burger shop owner Mark Elkhouri found himself in a bunfight with rapper Ye.

Swim Shady is not the first Australian brand or business to draw the ire of a US musician over trademark or copyright issues.

In 2022, Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – sued Melbourne’s College Dropout Burgers, accusing it of misleading and deceptive conduct because the outlet and some of its products were named after his 2004  album.

That case was dismissed after the rapper’s legal team didn’t comply with the court process, but not before the takeaway joint’s owner and self-described Ye fan Mark Elkhouri appeared at a hearing wearing a T-shirt with the words “I am not Kanye West”.

Another rapper, Grammy winner Jay-Z, brought a copyright lawsuit against an Australian retailer, The Little Homie, selling hip-hop-inspired kids’ clothing and books. He took particular issue with a picture book titled AB to Jay-Z which drew on lyrics from his hit song 99 Problems.

But one of the most long-running and twisty trademark disputes involves pop singer Katy Perry and Sydney-based designer Katie Jane Taylor, who has sold her clothing under the label Katie Perry (her birth name) since 2007.

That conflict dates back to 2009, when the US Perry sent a “cease and desist” letter over the Australian Perry’s trademark application. It resurfaced in 2019, when Katie Perry initiated action over Katy Perry-branded apparel being sold in Australia, with a Federal Court initially finding in her favour and then overturning the decision on appeal.

That ruling has since been challenged by the designer, whose lawyers told the High Court she had been using the trademark Katie Perry before she had even heard of the singer Katy Perry.