If you’ve walked in New York’s Time square, during the summer, you might have met the Naked Cowboy. Appears in his trademark white underwear with cowboy hat and boots, the Naked Cowboy also sports a guitar.
Now, the New York Post says, the Naked Cowboy is suing the Mars candy company over a billboard which shows a blue M&M dressed in his trademark briefs and boots.
Burck is allowed to pursue a claim that Mars Inc. violated his trademark by splashing a video of a guitar-slinging M&M dressed in a cowboy hat, boots and briefs across a giant billboard screen in Times Square in February.
The nearly nude musician has demanded $4 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
GADLING says that the main point behind the lawsuit is that the Naked Cowboy has created a persona and should have been paid for the use of the image. The claimant argues that the ad implies endorsement of M&Ms.
However, AOL money & finance says that lawyers argue that lawsuit should be dismissed because the M&M cowboy is a parody.
The judge said the law protects the name, portrait or picture of an individual but not a character created or a role performed by the person.
Photo:© Smath
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