Claim to name
SANDTON – Many celebrities put a significant amount of effort into protecting their world-famous names.
Celebrities are famous for doing weird and wonderful things and this has led to an interesting legal discussion with attorney, Tyrone Walker.
He said, “We all know of celebrities creating some ridiculous phrases or sayings but can you believe that they go ahead and protect these? Trademarks are registered to help distinguish someone’s goods or services. Trademarks create legal rights to a name, phrase and/or logo and value can be attached to a trademark.”
Walker explained that celebrities file trademarks to extract value in relation to various services or product offerings that they have created such as perfumes, makeup products or shoes. “This will be in addition to protecting their names and sometimes images.”
An interesting example in this regard involves the well-known rapper and musician, 50 Cent. “He protected his name and later sued restaurant chain, Taco Bell in the USA for their use of his trademark. In a printed advertisement, Taco Bell light-heartedly offered the rapper more than R143 000 to change his name to 78, 88 or 99 Cent for a day.” He claimed that the restaurant used his name without obtaining his permission. The infamous rapper won his case but the amount of the settlement that the restaurant had to pay him was not disclosed.
A few other examples of celebrities who have protected their own phrases include model Paris Hilton with her ‘that’s hot’ trademark and America’s president-elect, Donald Trump with ‘you’re fired’. Walker added that world-famous country, pop musician, Taylor Swift protected the phrase ‘This sick beat’.
Unsurprisingly, some celebrity trademarks are worth millions to billions of dollars, according to Walker. “These range from celebrity names extending to fashion labels and products to the boxing announcer who protected the phrase ‘Let’s get ready to rumble’, which is announced just before a boxing match.”
One of the latest celebrity trademark battles is between Kylie Jenner of the Kardashian family empire and singer, Kylie Minogue. Kylie Jenner is trying to trademark her name Kylie, which in essence would stop any third party from using the name ‘Kylie’ including Kylie Minogue.
