Pity the poor celebrity who has worked hard to create a name for themselves only for someone else to come along to use it. The latest is Yoko Ono, who has successfully managed to get a bar in Hamburg to change its name from Yoko Mono, as it has been known for 19 years, to the rather more dull and singular Mono. The name, the court was reported to have said, is so similar “that it was sufficiently likely that an observer would surmise some kind of link between Miss Ono and the bar”. An observer of the graffiti-covered dive bar possibly wouldn’t assume it was run by the mega-rich artist, but apparently that’s not the point. Here are some other celebrities who have had to fight for their good names.
Uri Geller v Pokémon
In 1999, the illusionist complained that Nintendo’s Pokémon game had used his name and image for two of its monsters. “I wouldn’t have given permission for an aggressive and, in one case, evil character to be based on me,” said the spoon-bender.
Gladys Knight v her son
The chain of Gladys Knight’s Chicken & Waffles restaurants, run by Shanga Hankerson, became a source of embarrassment to his mother after he was arrested for financial irregularities in 2016. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported earlier this year that Knight had won the case – and that her name, and anything associated with her, should be phased out.
Clint Eastwood v furniture
The actor took umbrage at a furniture company which, according to reports, was marketing a “Clint entertainment center”. The unit, said the company, virtually incomprehensibly, makes you look as if you live in “a perfect world of a million dollar baby” (bold, lawyer’s own).
Rosa Parks v Outkast
Lawyers and caretakers acting for the civil rights activist eventually settled with the hip-hop duo Outkast over the use of Parks’ name in a song title.
Scarlett Johansson v literature
In the French novel La Première Chose Qu’on Regarde (The First Thing You See) by Grégoire Delacourt, one character is a Scarlett Johansson lookalike. The real Johansson was reportedly unhappy – her lawyers said the character was a “fraudulent and illicit exploitation of her name, her reputation and her image”. A French judge agreed it was defamatory, but awarded her just €2,500 in damages and €2,500 legal costs (much less than the €50,000 sought) and rejected her demand that it should not be translated. The English-language version was published in 2015.
Manuel Noriega v Call of Duty
Panama’s former military dictator – convicted of money laundering, drug trafficking and murder – complained that his inclusion in the Call of Duty: Black Ops II video game had, among other things, damaged his reputation. The case was thrown out.
