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Lady Gaga's Lawyers Tell Breast-Milk Ice Creamery to Cool It
Attorneys for pop sensation Lady Gaga have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Icecreamists, a London enterprise that has been doing a bang-up business selling ice cream that's made with breast milk and marketed under the name "Baby Gaga."
Mishcon de Reya has given the ice creamery until Wednesday to change the name of the product -- which the law firm refers to as "deliberately provocative and, to many people, nausea-inducing" --"if you wish to avoid proceedings for trademark infringement."
Icecreamist owner Matt O'Connor isn't backing down quite so fast, though. His response, as posted on his blog: "She claims we have 'ridden the coattails' of her reputation. As someone who has plagiarised and recycled on an industrial scale, the entire back catalogue of pop-culture to create her look, music and videos, she might want to re-consider this allegation." Ouch!
As for the similar name, O'Connor goes on to write: "How can she possibly claim ownership of the word 'gaga' which since the dawn of time has been one of the first discernable phrases to come from a baby's mouth."
As it happens, the local authorities have seized the controversial ice cream so they can run health and safety checks on the product. Writing on his blog, O'Conner says of the ice cream dispute with Lady Gaga: "Nobody seems to have told her it is no longer for sale."
Written by Law.com managing editor Paula Martersteck.
Posted by Product Team on March 8, 2011 at 04:35 PM | Permalink
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