Legal news, some illegal. All of it interesting
1. Why Disney Can’t Kill Paraguay Mickey
Paraguayans love Mickey, a smiling mouse in a red suit and white gloves. Nope, not that Mickey – though Disney and Paraguay’s mice look so much alike it’s Goofy. This is Mickey (Mee-kay), mascot and name of a family-owned company that sells spices, condiments and more across Paraguay. Disney tried to assert, “Oh Mickey you’re so mine!” in a trademark suit, but Paraguay’s Supreme Court rejected those claims. Paraguay Mickey trademarked the name in 1956 and renewed it without the entertainment behemoth protesting, so it’s immune from infringement claims. That immunity does not extend outside Paraguay. However, don’t shed any mousketears, Mickey’s owners don’t plan to go international anyway.
2. Dishonest Honesty Prof Loses Defamation Suit
From our Irony files: A former Harvard professor who studied honesty until she was fired for lying in her research (honestly) cannot sue the university and the data sleuths who caught her for defamation. Francesca Gino sued Harvard and the scientists behind the blog that first raised concerns about her work – Data Colada – for $25M. Their findings prompted Harvard to investigate and retract three of her papers. The judge dismissed defamation claims, including one that Harvard defamed her by posting on the staff page she was on administrative leave. He did allow her to proceed with allegations Harvard breached her employment contract and treated her differently from other employees.
Liar, liar you are fired, here…
3. Lawsuity and the Beast, er, MrBeast
When contestants of MrBeast’s Beast Games signed participation contracts they acknowledged that in competing for $5M with 1K other people, they were risking death, injury, burns, heat stroke, and more. They also said yes, when asked in person, if they were willing to die or be buried alive. MrBeast is after all the YouTube star who filled his friend’s house with elephant toothpaste and played Battleship with real exploding boats. But according to a new class-action lawsuit against MrBeast and Amazon, that would’ve been fine. Not OK was the sparse food, iffy access to prescription meds and fresh undies, and the culture of sexual harassment and misogyny.
4. Inventing Anna Cha Cha Cha & Her Legal Woes
ICYMI, this year’s hot new fashion accessory is an ankle monitor. Anna Sorokin (Delvey) doesn’t wear one because of her 2019 conviction on fraud charges. The faux European heiress, who bounced checks, ran up hotel bills, and conned banks, etc., served her sentence in Rikers. The reason she waltzed through NY Fashion Week and onto Dancing With The Stars wearing a monitor is because she’s in the country illegally. The German/Russian overstayed her visa. Immigration authorities placed her under house arrest while she pursues asylum on the grounds she’s Russian? We’re not sure. Meanwhile, they’ve loosened “house arrest” terms enough that she could fly to L.A. and boogie on DWTS.
VIP is always better Vivian, here…
5. Warrior Pose: Yogi Sues Lauren Sánchez Over Book
Once upon a time, Lauren Sánchez, Jeff Bezos’ fiancée, wrote a children’s book, “The Fly Who Flew to Space.” Then her former yoga instructor huffed and puffed and sued Sánchez for allegedly stealing her book idea. The yogi says that in 2022 she pitched a similar concept to Sánchez called “Dharma Kitty Goes to Mars” and doubled downward dog on her accusations saying Sánchez has always been jealous of her. She also says Sánchez’s claims that her childhood struggles with dyslexia inspired her story? Namasnothing but a cheap PR ploy. Cliff’s Notes: She’s representing herself, and more than a dozen books published this year featured main characters that were either insects or going to space.
