Retired adult performer, Violet Blue, is being sued by a sex-positive writer, also named "Violet Blue." Author Violet Blue has written at least nine sexual how-to books and she's the editor of several erotic short stories. She is well known in the mainstream press. Mark Kernes at AVN writes:
Author Blue filed a lawsuit against actress Blue on Oct. 22 of this year, charging trademark infringement, trademark dilution, violation of right of publicity and unfair competition, claiming that actress Blue "created a likelihood of confusion as to sponsorship, connection, or authorization with Plaintiff Blue's valuable mark" by using her name and even adopting elements of author Blue's appearance, which she claims she's been using since 1999.
There's only one problem: Author Blue provides no proof in her lawsuit as to even the approximate date that she claims she became widely known as "Violet Blue," and the earliest date of publication listed in her Wikipedia entry is 2001, when she edited "Sweet Life: Erotic Fantasies for Couples" for Cleis Press. Moreover, she only received the trademark on her name in March of this year.
The AVN article goes on to describe several elements of the lawsuit. For example, author Violet Blue claims that adult performer Violet Blue took her "signature Bettie" look from her. Well, it's not exactly only author Blue's look -- many entertainers have used the black bangs and long black hair look, hence the reason it's named after its originator, Bettie Page. Performer Violet Blue has had many different looks throughout her career as an adult film star.
Author Blue hopes to gain rights to performer Blue's web site, violetblue.org as well as monetary damages including recovery of profits. Unfortunately, performer Blue is now a mother of two struggling to make ends meet cutting hair and relying on her web site as supplemental income. She can't even afford an attorney.
Personally, I think author Violet Blue should sue for VioletBlue.com and leave the poor retired porn star and her family alone. VioletBlue.com isn't even a real web site, it's one of those awful search engine sites with pop-up ads.
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