French Duo Justice Says Justin Bieber’s ‘Justice’ Album Artwork Was A ‘Very Conscious Rip-Off’ Of Their Logo

The battle between Justin Bieber and French dance duo Justice continues. The latter sent a cease-and-desist letter to the singer earlier this year claiming that the logo on Bieber’s album was a copied version of the duo’s own logo. Three months after the letter was sent to Bieber, Justice’s Gaspard Augé spoke about the issue in a interview with The Guardian.

“Though Bieber is from Canada, his actions fit this mindset of American hegemony: ‘Oh well, it’s just a small band from France, I’m sure we can take their name, nobody will care…’” Augé said during the interview. “Obviously, we don’t own the word ‘Justice’ and we don’t own the cross. But [Bieber’s] management got in touch first to ask where our logo came from, so it’s not some unhappy coincidence. To me, it’s a very conscious rip-off. And that’s where the problem is.”

It was first revealed that Bieber reached out to the French duo after Justice’s co-manager made the reveal at the time of the cease-and-desist letter. “Through your illegal co-opting of the Mark, you are now subject to immediate legal action and damages including, but not limited to, punitive and injustice relief,” the letter read. “Not only was Bieber’s team actually aware of Justice’s use of the Mark, they sought to use the same artist to essentially duplicate it for the Album. This is textbook bad faith and willful infringement.”