Friday, August 1, 2008

Sony to Pay Louis Vuitton for Past Britney, Da Brat Videos

The following italicized article is from www.nymag.com:

If we ever trademark a special pattern made from our initials, we would hire the Louis Vuitton legal team to help protect it in a heartbeat because they are on their game. The luxury company won another victory yesterday in its never-ending trademark-protection crusade, this time against Sony BMG. In a legal dispute just slightly more glamorous than LVMH's recent ones with eBay, Sony BMG has agreed to pay Louis Vuitton 100,000 euros, or $155,830. Louis Vuitton got upset with the music giant because they used its Toile Monogram and Multicolore trademarks in music videos and on CDs by Britney Spears, Ruben Studdard, and Da Brat. For example, in her "Do Somethin'" video, Britney appears driving through the clouds with her sexy girl entourage* in a pink hummer with a pink dashboard embossed with Louis Vuitton's signature pattern (which flashes on the screen for literally less than a second). "We don't make dashboards," a Vuitton spokeswoman told the Daily News. Though you can still watch the "Do Somethin' " video on YouTube (thank God), Sony BMG has agreed to cease distribution of American Idol winner Studdard's album The Return and pay Louis Vuitton an extra, undisclosed amount of cash in relation to that case.

What makes the LVMH legal team seem even more spectacular is they've already won $240,000 in the Spears and Da Brat cases over the last five years. In fact, according to our calculations, with the total winnings minus the Studdard bonus, the company can buy itself, why, 130 airport rolling bags!

Source: NY Mag

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