This is complicated, so pay attention. The Naked Cowboy, a New York street performer who is not naked or a cowboy, is suing a candy maker for showing a scantily-clad blue M&M that resembles the cowboy, on a Times Square billboard. The Cowboy wants $6 million.
I am not taking sides here, but if skimpy attire in Times Square is worth a trademark, then a lot of people did it long before the Cowboy. The place was kind of famous for it. On the other hand, if you’re going to imitate someone that hick tourists have their photos taken with, you shouldn’t do it in the very spot that is synonymous with huge crowds.
“Mr. Cowboy, did a lot of people see that billboard?”
“Yes, your honor, it was like Times Square there…”
The Naked Cowboy in Times Square, in 2003 file photo. REUTERS/Teddy Blackburn
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8 comments so far
Hasn’t anybody sued HIM for false advertising? I want to see a REAL NAKED COWBOY!
- Posted by Lady WeaselSo the question is….
Will the naked cowboy show up to court in clothes?
- Posted by KI’m a paralegal, OK. Anybody can sue anyone else, for anything. I make a living managing my company’s defense of idiotic lawsuits.
However, this guy is NOT a cowboy, and he’s NOT naked.
I predict his case will be dismissed. Or he might take a few million blue M&M’s in a settlement…
- Posted by Dee TI hope the courts decide just HOW he has to take his few million blue M&Ms in the settlement.
- Posted by Shawn HendricksNakedcowboy.com. Blocked list…and…done.
- Posted by Shawn HendricksMaybe I’m mistaken but aren’t we allowed to satirize public figures? Even those cases against Weird Al were tossed out. Well, he got his mug on Reuters. I guess that’s something, eh, Bob?
- Posted by Shawn HendricksWhat I don’t understand is why the media, including Reuters, keep filing stories about thsi guy. His photo has been reported again and again for several years. Once is enough. How does he rate getting his photo in the papers all the time? The media is wrong to give him space over and over again. Why do you do it?
- Posted by David JanesThe Naked Cowboy is officially the most photographed person in the world. The papers keep running stories about him and printing his image because it exists more times than any other human being in the history of photography. He is not “naked” nor is he a “cowboy” but it is quite clear as to who “The Naked Cowboy” is and who isn’t the Naked Cowboy… & an M&M character certainly is not the Naked Cowboy and needs to get permission to use his likeness … just like everyone else does.
- Posted by Elliot Goldstein