A few weeks ago, a story started making the rounds about an Oscars gift bag that contained everything from vapes to vibrators to free plastic surgery. This was a great story for a lot of reasons. It gave us an excuse to continue using that picture of vaping DiCaprio. It led to mental images of celebrities walking out of the festivities carrying bags with huge dildos sticking out of the top. It introduced us to the phrase “vampire breast lift.” Just lovely, all around. And now it’s even better, because there’s a lawsuit over it.
The issue here is that the bag is the brainchild of a company called Distinctive Assets, not the actual Academy Awards, and the Academy is rather upset that Distinctive Assets seems to be implying that their sack of vapes and sex toys is somehow officially affiliated with the ceremony. There’s a fair amount of legalese and accusations being thrown around here, but the gist of the Academy’s beef is spelled out in this section of the complaint, via the Hollywood Reporter.
“Distinctive Assets’ continued use of the Academy’s trademarks not only infringes the Academy’s trademarks, but it is also likely to dilute the distinctiveness of the Academy’s famous trademarks and tarnish their goodwill,” states the complaint. “Press about the 2016 gift bags has focused on both the less-than-wholesome nature of some of the products contained in the bags, which purportedly include a $250 marijuana vaporizer, a $1,900 “vampire breast lift,” skin treatments by Park Avenue plastic surgeons valued at more than $5,500, a $250 sex toy, and $275 Swiss-made toilet paper, and the unseemliness of giving such high value gifts, including trips costing tens of thousands of dollars, to an elite group of celebrities.”
Basically, what the Academy wants here is for Distinctive Assets to stop suggesting their might be an offici-… Hang on. Did that say “$275 Swiss-made toilet paper”? Forget the vapes and vibrators, that’s the real story here.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)
