Oh no they didn't!!!
Ringling Bros. Sue NYC Retailer Over Trademark Use
(CBS/AP) NEW YORK The Greatest Show on Earth is finding no amusement in what it claims is improper use of its circus trademarks, filing a lawsuit Tuesday to bring down the curtains on a holiday sales pitch by a beauty products company. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against Sephora and its parent company, the Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA. The circus' lawsuit seeks to stop Sephora holiday advertising that it says uses its trademarks, including the phrase it uses heavily in its program books, coloring books, playing cards and stuffed animals, "The Greatest Show on Earth." It also seeks unspecified damages relating to profits by the San Francisco-based Sephora or lost business of its own along with $5 million in punitive damages. It said it has used the trademark "The Greatest Show on Earth" continuously since the 1890s. According to the lawsuit, the circus learned this month that Sephora was using "The Greatest Gift Show on Earth" and other circus references and designs in its holiday advertising in stores, on billboards, in catalogs and on the Internet. Sephora displays circus-style lettering on one Web page that includes a circus monkey and five icons containing links to products it's selling, the lawsuit said. Another online animation shows a model made to appear to be a trapeze artist swinging across the screen, it said. "CIRQUE DE BEAUTE," Sephora's Web site says. "THE GREATEST GIFT SHOW ON EARTH." Telephone messages left with spokeswomen for Sephora were not immediately returned Tuesday.
Source:http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_332201934.html
Photo:http://www.sephora.com/catalog/index.jhtml;jsessionid=OFEGKDJSMZYQNLAUCLBBXCQ
J
