Gynecologist Dr. Drai can use name, even if Dr. Dre doesn’t like it, judge says

Enlarge / Dr. Dre performs onstage with Eminem during the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, California. (credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella)

A federal trademark judge has ruled in favor of a Pennsylvania-based gynecologist who goes by the name Dr. Drai-finding that use of this name does not violate the trademark of Dr. Dre, the famed rapper.

The case, which was filed in October 2015 to the United States Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), claimed that Dr. Draion M. Burch's efforts to use the "Dr. Drai" moniker in a trademark were a "close approximation" of the stage name of Andre Young. Dre's lawyers wanted the Drai trademark, which was first filed in 2011, to be annulled.

"Applicant has admitted that DR. DRAI sounds identical to DR. DRE (Burch Tr. at 154:20-155:1), and, thus, a consumer hearing them would think they are the same. As to appearance, the names look remarkably similar," lawyers representing Dre wrote in a November 2017 court filing.

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