OFF BEAT: Trading on Eagles' name can endanger a company
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One thing corporations should know about members of soft rockers The Eagles, is that they are unlikely to “take it easy” if they feel that their image or intellectual property rights have been infringed.
The band famously never has allowed its name or image — or that of its members — to be used to promote a product.
But Belleville, Wisconsin-based specialty clothing company Duluth Holdings Inc. has fallen foul of Eagles co-founder Don Henley who alleges that the clothing company infringed his copyright in a pun-tastic email marketing campaign advertising its “Henley” shirts.
Mr. Henley has objected to the tag line, “Don A Henley and Take it Easy” — a seeming reference to the band’s breakthrough hit “Take it Easy” — and filed suit against the clothing company in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.
In his complaint, Mr. Henley alleges that consumers might infer from the ad campaign that he had endorsed the brand.
“Both Mr. Henley and the Eagles have worked hard, for over 40 years, to build their names and goodwill in the world community. They pride themselves on the fact that they have never allowed their names, likenesses or music — individually or as a group — to be used to sell products,” a spokesperson for Mr. Henley told The Hollywood Reporter.
“One would think by now that the people in charge of marketing for these corporations would have learned by now that U.S. law forbids trading on the name of a celebrity without permission from that celebrity,” the spokesperson said.
Duluth Trading declined to comment on the case.
It remains to be seen whether both sides “Take it to the Limit” or reach some form of settlement.
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