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"Rap star Sean Combs has been asked in court to remove his alias "Diddy" from websites after an earlier settlement with a musician known by the same name. The rapper settled out of court with Richard "Diddy" Dearlove last year, agreeing not to use the name in the UK. Mr Dearlove's lawyer, Iain Purvis QC, told London's High Court that Mr Combs had made changes to two of his websites but "Diddy" was still used on others. He said Mr Combs had refused to make changes to sites not under his control. "We want him either to use a neutral name like P Diddy or to shut them down," he said. Mr Dearlove, best known for his remix of the Blondie hit Atomic, has traded under the name "Diddy" since 1992.

The 41-year-old wants Mr Combs to erase "Diddy" from sites including YouTube and MySpace. Mr Purvis said it could be difficult for Mr Combs to do this but that it was his responsibility. "What we say is he has given these undertakings and it is up to him to make sure they are complied with." Mr Purvis said that in keeping with an earlier agreement, Combs made sure UK visitors to his own international website www.diddy.com were diverted to a British site where "Diddy" was not used. Under the settlement with Mr Dearlove, Mr Combs is allowed to use "P Diddy" in the UK and "Diddy" outside the UK.

If the judge rules that Mr Combs has breached the agreement, Mr Dearlove will ask for an injunction barring him from continuing to do so. Mr Dearlove could then seek damages. Mr Combs, 37, changed his name from Puff Daddy to P Diddy in 2001, later dropping the "P" from his name in 2005. Sites like YouTube and MySpace have proved useful marketing tools for musicians - Mr Combs's MySpace profile has been visited 10 million times. The hearing continues."

To avoid confusion, lets use their real names here.

My problem with this one is that Sean's myspace and YouTube sites originated outside the UK and (geek time) are hosted on servers outside the UK so in all honesty why should Sean remove them? If he is allowed to call himself Diddy in the US. On the other hand, Richard has been using the moniker for years - shouldn't Sean have checked if someone else was using the stage name before he killed Puff Daddy, P.Diddy and Puffy?

The cynic in me says this is just a really clever way to promote Richard's work while he potentially earns some more money from whatever he may win in this hearing (don't forget, they've already settled out of court before) but the DJ in me can see his point. I'm sure I would be more than upset (and some lawyers would be called) if someone like 50 Cent or Jay-Z decided that they were tired of their old name and their new name was MistaJam.

What are your thoughts? Would the real Diddy please stand up?