No Rock And Roll Fun

IN THE LEGAL ZONE: Britney hasn't shaken off that lawsuit over the use of In The Zone. A San Diego company, Lite Breeze Inc., claims that it came up with the In The Zone "idea" first - which is like proudly claiming that putting "No sweat" on a tshirt was an inspired idea; somehow they seem to think it's cost them USD10million, so that's what she's being sued for. Because, of course, Britney Spears would be passing herself off as a small tshirt company; you can see where the confusion would set in. Lite Breeze feel that the decision to call her current tour the Onyx Hotel tour was because the Spears camp knew that they were in trouble with In The Zone, but trying to have it both ways, they say "by releasing her CD entitled "In The Zone" and its promotional tour, now entitled "The Oynx Hotel Tour", Ms. Spears has taken Lite Breeze's brand and equated it with what Rolling Stone Magazine has stated 'offers strip-club, 1-900 sex, accommodating and hollow.'" Is it just us, or is that a little tenuous?

What we do like, though, is Lite Breeze's use of Britney's work for the RIAA thought police against herself:

Ms. Spears' unauthorized use of the trademark is in direct contradiction to her 2002 public service announcements warning people against music piracy and theft of intellectual property. In those announcements, Ms. Spears stated that downloading music from the Internet is the same as going into a CD store and stealing the CD. See Spears Warns Against Piracy, BBC, Sept. 26, 2002.
In the lawsuit, Ms. Spears is accused of stealing the intellectual property, i.e. the trademark, of Lite Breeze. If Lite Breeze is successful in its lawsuit, Ms. Spears and the other defendants could be ordered to turn over all profits earned for Spears' In The Zone CD, the related tour and merchandising, and all damages to Lite Breeze.

Jeez, those ads keep coming back to bite people in the butt, don't they?

Lite Breeze is seeking all the earnings from the In The Zone CD (despite, erm, their not making CDs) and drools at the prospect that if the Court believes the infringement to be "wilfull" (yes, that's so likely) it could get three times the damages.

Britney Spears hasn't commented publicly on the case; her new single, Umbro, is released later this month.