Soulja Boy scandal: rapper caught selling rebranded consoles without permission

The rapper Soulja Boy has been called out by retro handheld company Retroid for reselling its console as his own without an official licensing deal.

3

Soulja Boy began informing his followers that he was selling the "SouljaGameFlip" on the souljaboygame Instagram account, with the artist recently posting a video explaining that the console is gaming-capable and also comes with apps. Soulja Boy can be seen in the video holding one of the consoles and saying, "Sonic, TikTok, Instagram, and everything ya need."

However, in a statement to Retro Dodo, the Retroid Team said, "I didn't know about this. This is not any kind of official licensing deal. He does not have permission to rebrand our products and sell them as his own. The Retroid Pocket Flip 2 is patented in the U.S by ourselves".

3

Notably, Soulja Boy is selling the "SouljaGameFlip" for more than double the retail price of the Retroid Pocket Flip 2, as the rapper is trying to sell the exact same console with just Soulja Boy branding on it for $400, when Retroid is selling it for $209. Additionally, the images Soulja Boy is using on his website are directly ripped off the Retroid website.

While I'm definitely not a lawyer, and IP infringement is a particularly stringent law, from the outside looking in it does appear Soulja Boy is blatantly infringing on Retroid's patent, and if the company decides to take the rapper to court he will be forced to stop the sale of the rebranded console, and perhaps even hand over any proceeds generated from sales of it.