A new lawsuit is gaga over swatting down bootleggers.
With Lady Gaga set to bring her “Art Pop Ball” tour to Madison Square Garden next week, a merchandising group with exclusive rights to sell products bearing the Fame Monster’s name filed a trademark-infringement suit Friday in Manhattan federal court against hundreds of John Does and Jane Does they believe plan to set up shop and sell “bootleg” Gaga shirts and other items.
The suit, filed by California-based Bravado International Group, says the unnamed defendants have soiled the value of official Lady Gaga tour merchandise for years by hawking inferior products featuring the star’s “Poker Face.”
The company and its affiliates want a judge to order U.S. Marshals and local cops to seize and impound bootlegged merchandise before it’s sold at Gaga’s May 13 show. They’re also seeking unspecified money damages.
“The bootleg merchandise is generally of inferior quality,” the suit says. “The sale of such merchandise is likely to injure the reputation of the artist and plaintiffs, which has developed by virtue of the artist’s public performance and reputation for high quality associated with the tour merchandise.”
Bravado has been filed similar proactive suits in the past few years. The suits have been successful in giving cops the power to seize counterfeit Lady Gaga and Beyonce products before they were sold by bootleggers at earlier New York shows, records show.