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| A collage of C+C Music Factory album covers traces the group’s recording history from “Gonna Make You Sweat” in 1990 through “Anything Goes!” in 1994 and the self-titled “C+C Music Factory” in 1995. Co-founder Robert Clivillés is suing Freedom Williams over rights to the group’s name and federal trademark. |
The dispute asks a surprisingly complicated question about one of the biggest dance acts of the early ’90s: Who has the right to call something C+C Music Factory?
The argument over who gets to use the C+C Music Factory name has moved from interviews, trademark proceedings and social media into federal court.Robert Clivillés, who created the hitmaking dance act with the late producer David Cole, filed a nine-count lawsuit against rapper Freedom Williams and two companies associated with him, accusing them of improperly exploiting the C+C Music Factory name.
Clivillés filed the complaint Aug. 14 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Case No. 1:26-cv-04981). He is representing himself.
The defendants are Williams, Freedom Williams Entertainment LLC and Big Mac Entertainment LLC, along with 20 unidentified defendants.
Clivillés alleges trademark infringement, false designation of origin, fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, fraud, defamation and breach of contract. He is also asking the court to cancel the federal trademark registration held by Freedom Williams Entertainment.
The filing seeks at least $10 million in compensatory damages. Clivillés asks the court to treble that amount under the federal Lanham Act, which would bring that portion of his requested award to at least $30 million. He is additionally seeking punitive damages, defendants’ profits, costs and injunctive relief.
No court has awarded him any of that money.
At the center of the case is a name familiar to anyone who was near a radio, dance floor or MTV in 1991.
Clivillés argues that the two C’s refer specifically to himself and Cole.
“The name C+C Music Factory stands for Clivillés and Cole Music Factory,” the complaint says.
He contends that Williams was a featured rapper and vocalist on C+C recordings rather than a founder or owner of the act and therefore never acquired the right to turn the group name into his own performing brand.
Williams’ side disputes that conclusion.
Attorney Charles F. Schmitt, who has represented Freedom Williams Entertainment in trademark matters, told Billboard that the new claims are meritless and that Williams is the lawful owner of the registered mark. Schmitt also argues that an earlier trademark challenge brought by Clivillés was dismissed with prejudice and that Clivillés should not get another attempt to undo the registration.
That earlier case makes the current dispute considerably more complicated than a simple fight between a founder and a former performer.
Freedom Williams Entertainment owns federal Registration No. 4775972 for the mark C & C MUSIC FACTORY, covering entertainment services.
USPTO records show the company applied for the mark in October 2014. The registration was issued July 21, 2015 and has since been maintained.
Clivillés challenged it before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in December 2016. That proceeding never produced a decision deciding who originally owned the name.
Instead, the board issued an order in May 2018 after Clivillés failed to file his trial brief. When no response was filed to that order, the board entered judgment against him and dismissed the cancellation proceeding with prejudice on June 25, 2018.
Clivillés emphasizes in his new complaint that the board did not decide the underlying ownership allegations on their merits.
Williams’ attorney emphasizes the other half of the equation: The proceeding was nevertheless dismissed with prejudice.
Whether that earlier judgment prevents Clivillés from pursuing some or all of his present claims is now one of the legal issues hanging over the federal case.
The fight has roots stretching much further back.
Clivillés and Cole emerged from New York’s dance-club scene and became an in-demand production and remixing team before launching C+C Music Factory around 1990.
Their debut album, “Gonna Make You Sweat,” became one of the defining crossover dance records of the period.
Its title track, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” featured Williams’ rap and Martha Wash’s powerhouse vocal. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in February 1991, while the album later climbed to No. 2.
“Here We Go (Let’s Rock & Roll)” and “Things That Make You Go Hmmm...” extended the run, with Williams prominently featured on both.
The structure of C+C Music Factory was never as straightforward as a traditional band standing together behind microphones.
Clivillés and Cole were its central production team, while different rappers and singers appeared across its records. Contemporary coverage routinely identified Williams as the rapper associated with the group, while Columbia releases billed tracks such as “Gonna Make You Sweat” as C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams.
The act’s history also includes one of the era’s best-known disputes over performer credit.
Wash sang the explosive vocal heard throughout “Gonna Make You Sweat,” but Zelma Davis appeared lip-syncing that part in its original music video. After Wash objected and sued, MTV added an on-screen notice distinguishing Wash’s vocals from Davis’ visual appearance.
Long before the current trademark case, Williams had his own legal dispute with Clivillés and Cole.
In 1992, Williams filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging the producers had cheated him out of royalties and breached obligations connected with his recording and management agreements.
Williams subsequently pursued a solo career.
Cole died in New York in January 1995 at 32. Clivillés continued working as a producer, songwriter and remixer.
The current complaint alleges that Williams later began performing concerts under the C+C Music Factory name and eventually obtained trademark registrations without Clivillés’ authorization.
Williams has publicly offered a different account.
In a 2019 interview, he said he had continued performing and representing the music when Clivillés was no longer touring with him and defended his decision to secure the trademark.
The dispute flared publicly again this year.
After Williams became associated with a planned Freedom 250 concert series in Washington, D.C., Clivillés used social media to distance himself from Williams’ participation and comments and argued publicly that Williams did not speak for the C+C Music Factory legacy.
Clivillés threatened legal action in June.
Ten days after that warning, according to the new complaint, Big Mac Entertainment released “Into the Future,” a new recording marketed on digital services under the C+C Music Factory name alongside Williams and Mark Walker.
In 1992, Williams filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging the producers had cheated him out of royalties and breached obligations connected with his recording and management agreements.
Williams subsequently pursued a solo career.
Cole died in New York in January 1995 at 32. Clivillés continued working as a producer, songwriter and remixer.
The current complaint alleges that Williams later began performing concerts under the C+C Music Factory name and eventually obtained trademark registrations without Clivillés’ authorization.
Williams has publicly offered a different account.
In a 2019 interview, he said he had continued performing and representing the music when Clivillés was no longer touring with him and defended his decision to secure the trademark.
The dispute flared publicly again this year.
After Williams became associated with a planned Freedom 250 concert series in Washington, D.C., Clivillés used social media to distance himself from Williams’ participation and comments and argued publicly that Williams did not speak for the C+C Music Factory legacy.
Clivillés threatened legal action in June.
Ten days after that warning, according to the new complaint, Big Mac Entertainment released “Into the Future,” a new recording marketed on digital services under the C+C Music Factory name alongside Williams and Mark Walker.
Clivillés cites that release as evidence that what had been a long-running dispute over live appearances had expanded into new recordings.
He is asking the federal court to stop Williams and the other defendants from using the C+C Music Factory name for performances, recordings and other commercial activity.
He also wants Registration No. 4775972 canceled, “Into the Future” and other disputed recordings removed from digital services, and administrative control of the long-running C+C Music Factory Instagram account transferred to him.
Clivillés filed a separate motion seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on the same day as the complaint.
None of those requests should be confused with a court ruling.
At this stage, they are Clivillés’ allegations and requested remedies, and Williams disputes his underlying claim to the name.
Thirty-five years after C+C Music Factory made “Gonna Make You Sweat” unavoidable, the new lawsuit is not really asking a court to decide who audiences remember from the record.
Williams’ voice is part of that history. So are Wash’s vocals, Davis’ image and the work of numerous singers and musicians who passed through what was deliberately constructed as a “music factory.”
The legal question is narrower — and potentially much harder.
Who owns the name on the factory door?
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