Clint Eastwood Settles Legal Dispute Over Chair (No, Not That Chair)

from the in-case-you-were-wondering dept

Tue, Oct 16th 2012 3:18am — Mike Masnick

I really have no idea why various furniture companies have taken to naming their furniture after famous Hollywood actors, but it apparently has become "a thing." In the past, we've written about lawsuits over Bogart couches and Brando couches. Back in April, Clint Eastwood jumped into the game with a lawsuit against Evofurniture for their line of ottomans and chairs named both "Clint" and "Eastwood." While there were legitimate defenses to this (as the estate of Humphrey Bogart learned) it appears that the Evofurniture folks weren't feeling particularly lucky... and agreed to settle.

Of course, Eastwood himself has been in the news of late for his interactions with a different sort of chair -- which in a bizarre way may have suddenly made his case slightly more compelling, as you could legitimately (though, ridiculously) make an argument that the public might really associate an "Eastwood chair" with the actor himself, whereas before that seemed like a longshot. I'm still not sure why so many furniture makers are naming their products after famous actors, but I wonder how effective it really is -- or if they're really just hoping for a lawsuit for advertising purposes...

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Filed Under: chair, clinte eastwood, publicity rights
Companies: evofurniture

11 Comments

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Alana (profile), 16 Oct 2012 @ 2:22am

That's a fine way to try make the chairs invisible too.
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Yawgmoth, 16 Oct 2012 @ 3:39am

Eastwood? Aren't those the name of the crappy chairs that always seem to break with minimal effort over somebody's back? No wait I'm thinking of the actor!
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abc gum, 16 Oct 2012 @ 4:58am

Why do chairs need a name anyway?

The naming of vehicles has become rather silly also. For example, who buys a car named Avenger - someone with a bad case of roadrage? Or what about the Ram truck from Dodge? At least with vehicles, naming them serves a purpose but chairs?
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Ninja (profile), 16 Oct 2012 @ 4:59am

Well, it would be quite awkward to sit on Clint Eastwood unless your macho heart is from San Francisco. /derp
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Ninja (profile), 16 Oct 2012 @ 5:01am

Re:
I hereby name my chair Jessica Alba.

"Hello dear guest, would you like to sit on Jessica Alba?"
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G Thompson (profile), 16 Oct 2012 @ 5:12am

Re: Re:
Thats just wrong..

wrong! Wrong WRONG!!!

You need to name the chair "G Thompson" then ask Jessica Alba to sit on it ;)
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Ninja (profile), 16 Oct 2012 @ 5:19am

Re: Re: Re:
Oh, I see what you did there ;)
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2012 @ 5:39am

Clint Eastwood would have more of a legal claim if it was called an "Obama Chair", since he was yelling at an invisible version of Obama, not himself.
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Mike C. (profile), 16 Oct 2012 @ 6:26am

Slightly more justified than Bogart though...
While the naming of the furniture was probably fine, part of the lawsuit also dealt with the marketing used by the furniture company and their references to movies Clint had been in. One example claimed in the suit was:

"When you're invited into a person's home, you get to see the good, the bad and the ugly. When visitors come to your home, the Clint 47'' Entertainment Center makes your family room alone look like you live in a perfect world of a million dollar baby"

I think the combination of the two (name + movie references) was the heart of the problem.
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Zakida Paul (profile), 16 Oct 2012 @ 6:27am

Opinions are like arse holes, everyone's got one and everyone thinks everyone else's stinks

I love that quote :p
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MahaliaShere (profile), 16 Oct 2012 @ 12:08pm

Such crap
They should start naming toilet seats after them. Then sit back and watch the fur fly.
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