Madonna Sued Over Material Girl Trademark
Who’s the original Material Girl? According to a lawsuit filed earlier this week, it’s not Madonna.
LA Triumph, a clothing manufacturer based in — where else? — Los Angeles, says Madonna’s Material Girl line of clothing for Macy‘s breaches its trademark for the name. The company claims it’s owned a brand of clothing called Material Girl since 1997.
An attorney with the One LLP, the firm representing LA Triumph, said, “Our client and its predecessor have been continually selling similar clothes in similar retail outlets at similar price points under their Material Girl brand since at least 1997, and Madonna and her newfound company do not have the right to trade in the same space under this brand.”
We don’t know whether it’s a valid legal point, but we seem to remember that Madonna’s song Material Girl, the one from which she gets her nickname and the name of her new brand, debuted in 1985, but that’s probably immaterial here. Our friends at Thread NY found through a quick search of the US Patent and Trademark Office that “all listings for ‘Material Girl’ prior to Madonna’s line for Macy’s had been abandoned or canceled.”
But that doesn’t seem to matter to LA Triumph. Because of the clothes’ supposed similarity, the company is suing for all the profits the line has made since its launch earlier this month. The company also risks being “subsumed by Madonna’s profile” and “obvious worldwide notoriety.”
But it’s that last bit that has us scratching our heads. Everyone has been talking about Madonna’s Material Girl line for months. Why would the people at LA Triumph wait so long to file suit? Were they relying on getting money from this debacle? Does someone at the company have personal issues with Lourdes that can only be solved by public humiliation?
We don’t know. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that Madonna is going to keep on trucking no matter what the world throws at her. And we really don’t expect this case to be any different.
[Via Thread NY and The Celebrity Cafe]
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