3. DDP Sued Jay-Z Over Use Of Diamond Cutter Symbol
When Diamond Dallas Page left the WWE in 2002, he pretty much quietly retired (save for a brief TNA run) and began working on setting up a couple of outside-the-ring businesses, such as a t-shirt company and DDP Yoga. Set for life thanks to his main event WCW run, few expected Dallas to keep up much of a public presence. He did, however, make national headlines when he sued rap artist Jay-Z in December of 2005. DDP believed that Jay-Z had illegally adopted the 'Diamond Cutter' hand signal as his own and was suing Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella records for damages. Dallas had copyrighted the gesture years ago. When Dallas' lawyer brought it directly to Jay's lawyers, they said the issue was that DDP was misusing
their client's gesture. In a press released, DDP's layer explained that:
Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records use this symbol to promote themselves, to promote their artists, to promote their music and to promote their fanbase. People have come to recognize , and the way that its being used by Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella is taking value away from it and creating confusion upon the public.
Page eventually settled with Jay-Z for an undisclosed amount of money.