Who Needs to Log Billable Hours when you’ve got a LiLo?

September 11th, 2014. By LucyC

She’s an attorney’s dream…the client that lets you kiss goodbye billable hours, ’cause heck—you’ve already blown your hours out of the park with this baby! And here we go again…

What’s in your closet? Lindsay Lohan and company, by any chance? Better check behind those suit bags….

No stranger to legal issues (see mug shot, 2013), LiLo has been hit with a cease and desist letter, well, her and her brother (what happened to the father? He’s never far behind) for stealing an idea for a fashion e-commerce site—an idea that involves looking through celebrities closets. It seems LiLo has entered the business world with the same panache she demonstrated in the entertainment arena—if the allegations are true.

The whole business concept is just a tad creepy… the back story is that shortly after Lohan finished her 90 days in rehab last year, she and her brother, Michael Jr. got involved in a fashion start-up—an app that allows people to sift through celebrities virtual closets (e.g. Lohan’s—and, um—I think one could guess—what’s in her closet) to see what designers they’ve bought—so the wannabes can make the same purchases. The app, called Spotted Friend, was the brain child of one Fima Potik, a tech entrepreneur, reportedly.

According to the NewYork Post, where all the good news comes from these days, Lohan tweeted about Spotted Friend in July, 2013. At that time, the website apparently read: “A Fima Potik & Lindsay Lohan Production.”

Cut to July 2104, Page Six reported that Lohan’s younger brother was raising money for Vigme, a “social shopping community.” He said, “If Lindsay buys something, it goes into her [virtual] closet. People see what’s in her closet. If someone else buys [the same item], it puts money into Lindsay’s pocket.” I guess every penny helps—rehab’s not cheap these days…

But—Potik’s lawyer, Marc E. Kasowitz, is not buying, and LiLo, Michael Jr. and business partner Christopher Roth (not sure where he came from) are facing a cease-and-desist letter from Potik, in which Kasowitz wrote, “Prior to their involvement in Vigme, [the Lohans and Roth] were members of Spotted Friend LLC, a social commerce startup that was founded by Fima Potik in 2013. It is Mr. Potik—not the Lohans—that created and developed the idea for a mobile application that allows users to access celebrities’ and friends’ ‘virtual closets’ and to directly purchase fashion items and accessories from these ‘virtual closets.’  I’m having massive Facebook déjà vu here…

“In 2014, after being members of the company for over a year, without any warning, the Lohans and Mr. Roth launched a competing company and improperly took proprietary information and intellectual property from Spotted Friend to start the new business. We intend to take all action necessary . . . to protect Spotted Friend’s and Mr. Potik’s legal rights and commercial interests.”

Not surprisingly, Lohan’s attorney, Mark J. Heller, fired back with: “Allegations of any impropriety in Lindsay Lohan’s business relationship concerning this Web site are inaccurate and clearly designed to capitalize on her worldwide recognition as a fashion icon.” Worldwide fashion icon? What the best dressed wear in rehab these days? Ok—who’s on drugs here?

Spotted Friend is still up and running as of post time—and from the looks of it, it would seem that piggybacking on the coattails of others is nothing new to the whole lot of these folks–Potik included. How’s that? The opening splashscreen at Spotted Friend is actually a “Google” search screen (below). Any one run that by Google’s legal team? (just asking…)

Conversely, the folks at Vigme are still gearing up for an “Expected Launch – Winter 2014” according to their LinkedIn page. We’re waiting with bated breath, of course.

I don’t know—the whole thing has me longing for the days when fashion came out of 7th Ave, vs. a dive bar in West Hollywood. But hey, if there’s a lawsuit, it could end up being more profitable than the app could ever be. Especially for those lawyers…

This was posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2014 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.