Legal News

Lindsay (Last Name Allegedly Unnecessary) Sues E-Trade

By Ashby Jones

Single-name recognition. Here are some of the very few people who (arguably) have it: Madonna. Ichiro. Oprah. Bono. Morrissey. Ronaldinho. Cher. Here are some of the many many people who don’t: Paul Simon, Frank Thomas, Joan Rivers, Larry Craig, Dianne Feinstein and Randy Jackson.

And what about Lindsay Lohan? Or should we say, simply, “Lindsay”? Does she have it?

Her lawyer seems to think so. And whether she does or not might be central to a lawsuit reportedly filed on Monday on behalf of Lohan in Nassau County, N.Y., Supreme Court. (Click here for the NY Post article.) Lohan alleges that one of those E-Trade baby commercials — the creepy/funny ones in which babies sing, talk to each other about golf, and herald the virtues of E-Trade — misappropriated her “name and characterization.” She’s asking for $100 million, reports the Post.

The commercial itself is a relatively new addition to the E-Trade catalogue. It’s the one in which the E-Trade star, a baby boy, is chatting with a baby girl. The joke is that the two babies are chatting it up as if they’re in their early 20s; she’s mad at him for not calling the night before. (His excuse not calling: he was on E-Trade, “taking control, like a wolf.”) “And that milkaholic, Lindsay, wasn’t over?” the girl then asks, prompting a different, spazzy little girl to jump in the frame on the boy’s side. “Milk-a-what?” the newcomer asks. Click here for the YouTube video, which is vastly more entertaining than our write-up.

In any event, according to the Post, Lohan’s lawyer, Stephanie Ovadia, said the Lindsay baby was intended to refer to her client, who “has the same single-name recognition as Oprah or Madonna.”

“They used the name Lindsay,” Ovadia said. “They’re using her name as a parody of her life. Why didn’t they use the name Susan? This is a subliminal message. Everybody’s talking about it and saying it’s Lindsay Lohan.”

In addition to the money for her client, Ovadia wants an injunction halting the commercial’s airing as well as “every last copy of the commercial.”

E-Trade was not reached for comment by the Post.

LBer’s, we’re going to refrain from comment on this one, but you shouldn’t.

Photo: AP

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 09, 2010 (boomark / email).