Sheen quips prompt trademark war
LOS ANGELES – The next time Charlie Sheen wishes to say something outrageous, he may want to pause a beat and make sure his intellectual property lawyer is paying attention.
In the past few weeks, as Sheen has blitzed his way into the cultural imagination, heís triggered a secondary phenomenon: People are rushing to the U.S. Trademark Office to stake claims over his many quotable quotes.
How many small-time entrepreneurs, for example, have decided they simply must sell t-shirts with the word ìWINNINGì mentioned prominently? Quite a few, in fact. In the past few weeks, various folks have registered the marks, ìWinning!,î ìUh Winning,î ìWinning,î ìWorld Wide Winning Connections,î ìFriendship, Whoís Winning?î and ìBi Winning.î
Others have gone to the Trademark Office to stake Sheenís other popular catch phrases. A video website that keeps track of new Charlie Sheen appearances has registered ìTiger Blood TV.î A Florida-based toy manufacturer has registered the ìMagic Charlie Ball.î Another company registered ìAdonis DNAî for a line of dietary and nutritional supplements.
The hot activity over Sheenís popular phrases could trigger some legal action.
The actor will soon be taking to the road on a multiple-city performing tour. At the concerts, Sheen plans to sell t-shirts and other merchandise stamped with his famous catch phrases, and heís entrusted the task to Live Nationís FEA unit.
Soon, his reps may be boning up on Sheeneology to figure out which of his words have hit cult status and who are the, um, turncoats, traitors and trolls who are looking to rip him off.
Sheen isnít a complete novice when it comes to the trademark arena. In the late 1990s, Sheen set up a company called Masheen Inc. and attempted to trademark the phrase, ìDrugs Are Loser Friendlyî for flyers, stickers, t-shirts, mugs, and other items.
In 2005, Sheenís company, Three Dog Park, filed a trademark application for ìSheen Kidz,î a line of couture childrenís sportswear that apparently did big business in Japan.
Unfortunately, what we might imagine as one of Sheenís best new business/trademark opportunities seems to have been taken. Sheen has repeatedly referred to his enemies, from ìTwo and a Half Menî co-creator Chuck Lorre to antagonistic porn stars, as ìturds.î The word is one of Charlie Sheenís Top 5 media phrases, and we might be excited to play a game where a Sheen avatar uses a slingshot to launch flying objects like lawsuit grenades with the intent to destroy various Hollywood turds. Sadly, ìAngry Turdsî was registered a few weeks ago and doesnít seem to be connected with the Charlie Sheen imbroglio.
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