Posts Tagged ‘ CBS ’

Bret Michaels Head Injury Lawsuit Settles

May 18th, 2012. By AbiK

Seems like ages ago now, but remember when Bret Michaels was all over the news after suffering that brain hemorrhage? Thankfully for him, his daughters and family, and Poison fans everywhere, he recovered—and we all got a glimpse of his ordeal when People magazine ran Michaels on its cover with the headline “I’m Lucky to be Alive”.

But while a hemorrhage can seemingly occur out of the blue, in Michaels case, there had been a head injury only the year before—in June, 2009. Michaels’ head injury occurred—rather publicly—during the 2009 Tony Awards, at which he and his band, Poison, were performing “Nothin’ But a Good Time”.

When the song was over, Michaels turned to leave the stage and that’s when a rather large piece of the set descended and appeared to hit Michaels in the head, knocking him down. He suffered a fractured nose and needed stitches in his lip.

Given the timing of the head injury, and then the brain hemorrhage less than a year later, Michaels filed a personal injury lawsuit in March, 2011 claiming the stage accident contributed to his life-threatening brain hemorrhage.

Both the Tony Awards and CBS were defendants in the lawsuit which alleged that the Tony Awards producers did not warn Michaels of a set change after his performance and CBS aired the accident thereby allowing it to be picked up by viewers who then made the accident go viral on sites like YouTube.

Needless to say, terms of the settlement—reached last week after a mediation session—are undisclosed. The head injury lawsuit did not specify the monetary damages being sought when Michaels filed it, however according to the Associated Press, Michaels did state that the injury hurt his ability to play at future shows.

Speaking of shows, now that Michaels is performing, fans can catch him on tour this summer–here’s list of Bret Michaels tour dates.

 

Tags: Brain Hemorrhage, Brain Injury, Bret Michaels, Bret Michaels Lawsuit, CBS, Head Injury, Poison, Settlement, TBI, Tony Awards
Posted in Accidents, Celebrity, lawsuits, Personal Injury | No Comments »

Naked Cowboy Stripped of Trademark Lawsuit Claim

March 5th, 2012. By AbiK

The Naked Cowboy trademark lawsuit has been given the boot.

Not familiar with the Naked Cowboy? He’s an ‘only in New York’ (nod to NY Post columnist Cindy Adams) institution. Though he hails from Ohio, he hangs out in the heart of Times Square donning only a cowboy hat and a pair of briefs—oh, and cowboy boots, though those typically reside outside of an onlooker’s range of focus. He also carries an acoustic guitar that he does, indeed, play.

He’s been doing his solo act in the heart of the city since 1997, and clearly he’s made not only a name for himself but apparently a living (and a following—he threw his cowboy hat in the ring as a 2012 US Presidential candidate). So much so, he’d trademarked his “Naked Cowboy” moniker—back in 2002. And, it goes without saying, once you’ve got a trademark, you’re going to protect it against trademark infringement.

So, when the Naked Cowboy became aware that the CBS soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” character, Oliver, appeared on the show that aired November 1, 2010 in a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and briefs and that he played a song on a (guess what?) guitar, well, the Naked Cowboy noticed some similarities.

There were differences, too—the Oliver character did not have “Naked Cowboy” written all over his guitar or on his cowboy hat.

Additionally, a clip of the scene was posted—by CBS—on CBS’ YouTube channel. The clip had the descriptive title “The Bold and the Beautiful – Naked Cowboy”. And, “naked” and “cowboy” were tags on the clip. CBS also bought adword advertising for the phrase “naked cowboy” on YouTube.

In order for the Naked Cowboy trademark infringement lawsuit to go ahead, the cowboy would’ve had to establish that not only did he had the valid registered trademark (he does) but that the trademarked name was used by the defendant for commerce and in connection with the sale or advertising of goods or services without the plaintiff’s consent.

The defendant’s use of the trademark would also have to be likely to cause confusion regarding the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant—for example, did it appear as though the Naked Cowboy (the real one) had sponsored or approved the use of a naked cowboy on the soap?

While the Naked Cowboy could clearly establish that he owned his own trademark, the court did not find that CBS had used the trademarked name for commerce; and, in terms of the adwords, the court deemed that while CBS did purchase the adwords, it did not place the words on any products or goods so, in effect, buying the adwords did not constitute commerce either.

The court also found that given the differences in the costumes of the Times Square-based Naked Cowboy and the naked cowboy on “The Bold and the Beautiful”, there is no likelihood of confusion.

All remaining charges of the trademark infringement lawsuit were also dismissed. And with that, the Naked Cowboy is left to tip his hat and head back to his urban frontier at the corner of 46th and Broadway.

For more, read the court opinion here.

Tags: CBS, Naked Cowboy, New York, The Bold and the Beautiful, Times Square, Trademark Infringement, Trademark Lawsuit
Posted in Celebrity, Intellectual Property, lawsuits | No Comments »