More Thoughts on the Chili Peppers Suit against Showtime
(right: Los Angeles IP and Entertainment attorney Richard Jefferson)
Some comments deserve their own post and this is true of Richard Jefferson's thoughts on our recent post Red Hot Chilis and Showtime Californicate in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
After reading over the Complaint, I now see legally how the Red Hot Chili Peppers (the "RHCP") were able to get this case in Court without being accused of blatantly filing a frivolous complaint.
The RHCP have coupled a claim for unfair competition and dilution regarding the TV show title (which looks like a weaker claim on its face) with the stronger claim against the TV Show's soundtrack release (the Californication soundtrack). Of course, the media headline is going to pick up on the more publicized RHCP Album Name vs. TV Show element, but this is typical of the media game in Hollywood.
There are a number of issues that make this case an interesting case to follow, such as the claim that the RHCP's album title has acquired a "secondary meaning" that will transcend trademark categories and the fact that Showtime actually applied for a federal trademark for "Californication" in the TV series category.
Like most entertainment cases, it appears to me that this is just another case of "who has the bigger pockets to pay their lawyers". I suspect that there were extensive pre-litigation correspondence between the parties and Showtime never reached a settlement number that was high enough for the RHCP so they sued.
Also, not only is this good exposure for the band but the way that the media has spun the story so far, Showtime is getting some good pub as well by making it seem like this is a far fetched claim.
Thanks for the thoughtful analysis Richard! Much appreciated.
