EXCLUSIVE: E*Trade Calls Lindsay Lohan's $50 Million Lawsuit "Meritless"
May 10 2010, Published 11:07 a.m. ET
Online financial giant E*Trade is fighting back against a lawsuit lodged by Lindsay Lohan that claims the company used her name and celebrity without her approval in one of their famous baby commercials that aired during the Vancouver Olympics and the Super Bowl.
"Plaintiff Lindsay Lohan filed this lawsuit because E*Trade aired a commercial featuring a baby that happened to share the same first name as her and over 250,000 other women and girls in the United States," said the papers filed by E*Trade with the Supreme Court of New York on April 30. "Plaintiff's claims are meritless and should be dismissed as a matter of law."
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In the humorous video, the E*Trade Baby explains to his girlfriend via a webcam why he didn't return her call the night before. The girlfriend grills him about whether "that milkaholic Lindsay" had been over. The baby "Lindsay" then pops up on the E*Trade Baby's webcam asking, "Milk-a-what?"
On March 8, Lohan's legal team sued for fifty million dollars in damages saying the company used her "name, characterization, and personality" in the advertisements without her consent.
E*Trade fired back, pointing out that she simply isn't famous enough to be recognizable by her first name unlike some other celebrities who have taken legal steps to protect that identity.
"Although Plaintiff claims that she is well-known by the single name 'Lindsay,' celebrities who actually have achieved fame under one name, like Oprah, Madonna, Cher and Beyonce, have federally registered their names as trademarks thereby establishing the distinctiveness of their single names," the company's lawyers stated.
Not only has Lindsay not made attempts to trademark her name, she is barely recognized by her first name, the company claims. "The fact that the plaintiff is not known by her common first name is further demonstrated by media coverage, which refers to her as 'Lohan' or 'LiLo.'"
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The company also points out other famous Lindsays like Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, tennis player Lindsay Davenport, and actresses Lindsay Wagner and Lindsay Price. Furthermore, the company says, the "Lindsay" in the commercial is a baby while Lohan is a twenty three year old woman.
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