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NATION19 BOOTLEGGER’S HALL OF FAME
THE BOOTLEGGER’S GUIDE TO BOOTLEGGING OUR BRAND
Over the years, we have seen all types of folks who got inspired by our freshness and originality. But there is a saying: where there is culture, there will be creativity. Where there is creativity, there will be imitation. And where there is imitation, there will be bootleggers. Here is how you too, can bootleg us. Just be careful, you might catch a federal case. Below is a little guide based on real encounters, real cases, and real counterfeiters, also known as bootleggers.
1st Place goes to: Musa Hill
In 2016, Jabrial Fard Muhammad (we think that’s his real name) was one of our many customers, buying tees and supporting us regularly. At one point, he got inspired and launched his own clothing line called Musa Hill. We were incredibly proud to see another small business blossoming in the same industry as us… until he started printing and selling products illegally using our APDTA® trademarked brand on them; this was something he knew was not right to do.
We courteously reached out and told him he could not print or sell our brand without a license. Instead of apologizing, he said he would not stop selling the shirts because he had already printed them. He then suggested that we needed to collaborate with him; a suggestion akin to stealing someone’s car and offering them a ride home.
Upset that we told him to stop, he and his brother posted threats of physical violence toward us on Facebook and Instagram. Our attorney sent cease and desist letters to Jabrial, his social media accounts, and his website for a federal offense: selling APDTA® without our permission.
He continued threatening us online, and we later came to find out his family had a history of similar criminal activity. Around that time, we received a large order from the same area Jabrial was located in. It turned out to be his mother. We refunded her money and blocked her on Facebook because she was posting our logos on her page (see below). Eventually, the Musa Hill website and social media stores were all shut down. But the story does not end there.
Soon after, Jabrial rebranded himself under a new name, 19Keys. We are Nation19, now he is 19Keys. I wonder where that came from. Mr. 19 Fleas, as we call him over here, is now a social influencer. According to him, he is an expert in crypto, ancient aliens, health elixirs, real estate, relationships and pseudoscience. There are tons of people exposing him as a grifter, a scammer, and a con artist, but to us, he is only our most notorious bootlegger.
2nd Place goes to: NOISHIRTS.COM
Some bootleggers counterfiet our products. Some bootleggers make threats. And then there are the advanced bootleggers, the ones who try to trademark our brand. This is that story.
Back in the early 2010s, Abdul Muhammad was not a stranger. He hired us for design work for his sprinkler business. He emailed us, ordered products from us, and even had his son model APDTA® for us in our 2014 Nation19 Magazine. His son wore the shirts, the hats, and the accessories. Mr. Abdul Muhammad of Phoenix, Arizona, knew exactly who we were and what APDTA® was.
Fast forward to 2022. Out of nowhere, Abdul decided to file his own trademark application for APDTA. Yes, the same APDTA® we had been using since 2009. Yes, the same APDTA® his son modeled for. Yes, the same APDTA® he had texted us about over the years. And yes, the same APDTA® we had already federally registered for a decade.
To make things even more interesting, a website selling APDTA‑branded merchandise without our permission called NOIShirts.com began. When we asked Abdul directly if he owned the site, he confirmed it. When we asked for his email, he gave us the same one tied to the bootleg site. Everything matched up like a connect‑the‑dots worksheet.
So we sent him a cease and desist letter. A simple, polite, professional “please stop selling our brand illegally.”
Instead of stopping, he filed an illegal trademark application (knowingly filing a trademark you do not own is illegal. It is not “just paperwork.” It is a sworn legal declaration to a federal agency. A trademark application requires the filer to swear under penalty of perjury).
The problem for him was simple: You cannot trademark something you did not create, do not own, and do not have permission to use. Especially when there is a long paper trail showing you knew exactly who the real owner was.
We submitted our evidence to the USPTO, including: • years of emails • years of texts • photos of his son modeling APDTA® • screenshots of his website selling APDTA® • our prior federal registration • our use dating back to 2009 • the cease and desist he received before filing the trademark application.
It was not a mystery. It was not a coincidence. It was not “two people thinking alike.” It was just another case of someone trying to bootleg our brand and getting caught in 4K.
Currently, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the feds are investigating, and the application was Suspended Pending Administrative Review. To this day, Abdul Muhammad remains one of the most unusual entries in our APDTA® Bootlegger Hall of Fame. Not because he sold shirts. Not because he copied designs. But because he tried to trademark the brand his own son once modeled for.
3rd Place goes to:
Saviours’ Day Entrepreneurs.
The annual NOI convention in February brings out the best and the worst of the bootleggers. Here are a few that we found:
Alive tee
APDTA® tees, hats, jewelry, beanies etc.
Other Bootleggers we found online included some of our most popular designs.
For our Winter in America / Fall of America collection we saw a young sister knitting Bennie hats with our APDTA®️ Brand. Our legal team sent a cease and desist letter, and she stopped illegally selling our brand to our knowledge. So we hired her to make these custom hats for our customers. The problem was when we ordered the hats from her after paying her, she took nearly 2 months to deliver after promising us an earlier delivery date, which made our customers upset. She told us she was extremely busy and that she was sorry, but then she was posting pictures of her and her friends hanging out at Hooters on Instagram. Every now and then we see a beanie floating around with our Trademark on it smh.
There are so many more stories to the bootleg hall of fame, and we have plenty of hall of famers to recognize. Just a heads up for anyone who wants to bootleg APDTA®, our artwork is copy written and our brand is trademarked. Violators will be prosecuted. Peace out!