TikToker and “Hype House” founder Thomas Petrou said that he is under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) relating to a settled lawsuit by former member Daisy Keech. The NDA also includes other members of Hype House. Petrou revealed this in an appearance on the BFFs podcast on July 28.
In the episode, Petrou talks about a lawsuit that occurred over the founding of “Hype House” and trademarking the name. The “Hype House” has the largest following out of any “TikTok” house with the likes of Addison Rae, Nikita Dragun, and the D’Amelio sisters as members.
Petrou in the podcast says “kind of” though he says that the “conversation is sticky because we have both signed something that says we’re not allowed to speak about each other.”
He goes onto say “we can’t really talk” and that it was “because her team was attempting to sue me which failed horribly. Then they withdrew and now we can’t talk.” Petrou then admits they signed NDAs.
Dave Portnoy, one of the hosts, then asks about whether it was to do with “ownership of Hype House” and Petrou says it was “an intellectual property suit”. Portnoy says though that it “has to be about Hype House” which Petrou accepts.
Petrou says that “there was backdated evidence of me and Alex [Warren] discussing [Hype House] years before I met Daisy so that was kind of the problem there.”
When asked by Portnoy about his relationship now with Keech, Petrou said that they had “fixed it” and added he’d “talked to her about a week ago.
However, he said “it took a long time to repair the relationship” because of anxiety he had suffered during the lawsuit, even the point of “throwing up every day.” He described the time as “horrible” because it was the first time he had experienced being in a lawsuit but said that “everything was in the past between him and Keech.”
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Petrou said it also made him realize that he “had to have a business in place” and “equity in these things” as Hype House quickly became popular. He said the mission of Hype House was to “bring people together” and try and have fun.
Topic starts at 39:23
The lawsuit between Thomas Petrou and Daisy Keech
The lawsuit began after Keech, claiming to be one of the founders, filed to trademark the name “The Hype House”. The next day a licensing agency called Brand Central LLC filed applications of its own.
Keech claimed this was simply to secure intellectual property rights for the group and open up a “more collaborative decision-making process in the group.”
Tensions between Petrou and Keech came to a head when Petrou used the trademark in an Instagram story as well as teased potential merchandise. Petrou was then sent a cease-and-desist letter and asked that Keech’s consent be sought before any use of the trademark.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Petrou and Hype House founder Chase Hudson both believed they were the sole founders of Hype House.