Cecil Mcbee Sues Cecil Mcbee

[Mulboyne]

VS
The Wall Street Journal (subscription only) has a feature on Cecil McBee's legal fight against the Japanese company running the fashion shops with the same name. The older article below gives you a flavour. A US court has determined that it has jurisdiction over the case since the company sold some items to customers based in the US.

Boston.com: Mcbee or not Mcbee

Like many jazz greats, Cecil McBee is big in Japan. The bassist, who lives in Yarmouth, Maine, and teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music, is highly regarded for his work with Jack DeJohnette, Alice Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, and Elvin Jones, among others. So when McBee saw his name atop a trendy little shop in Tokyo, he wasn't surprised."Initially, I took it as an honor," McBee said last week. "I thought a fan had honored me with their love." He soon discovered, however, "Cecil McBee" is a popular retail chain in Japan, specializing in provocative outfits for teen and preteen girls. "I was floored that, unbeknownst to me, they'd use my good name in this way," he said. McBee, 68, has been battling the store's corporate parent, Delica Inc., for close to 10 years, and the case finally is headed to trial in US District Court in Portland. (Delica insists it's all just a coincidence -- their "Cecil McBee" isn't this Cecil McBee.) What's most upsetting to the musician is that his name's being used to sell skimpy clothes to young girls. "Some of it could discourage young ladies from their grace and discipline," he said. "I'm challenging these people to honor my family name and the integrity of my entire life's work. . . . I'm so angry. . . . This is something that belongs to me, not them."

Mcbee vs Delica, Denial of Defendant's request for Summary Judgement

[omae mona]

Thanks for that post, Mulboyne. Since the first time I saw one of those stores a few years back, it's been on my top-5 list of weird things I couldn't explain in Japan. I was pretty sure the jazz bassist hadn't opened a line of retail stores overseas.

(Delica insists it's all just a coincidence -- their "Cecil McBee" isn't this Cecil McBee.)

Yeah, right... rolling eyes emoticon not even necessary here. OTOH I have no idea whether that makes this illegal or not, in Japan or the U.S.

[GargoyleTS]

So much for the saying "What's in a name?"

Although: he's been fighting this for 10 years now, and I would bet dollars to sand-grains maybe 1 of their customers even knows who this Jazz Bassist is. Jazz not being my thing, I don't either, but its not like they use his image to sell their clothing. And if he didn't trademark his name IN JAPAN...fair use buddy! (that is a TM or R I see on the bag, right?)

And no, it's late, I'm tired and I have had a headache all day that no amount of excedrin could fix (do not exceed 8 tablets per day...WIMPS) and thus did not read the judgement link cause legalese HURTS right now. But IMO, Cecil is SOL on this one cause they ain't using his image. BAKA!

[Mulboyne]

He complains that when someone googles for his name, they get fashion links instead of his booking details and people think he is associated with the chain.
Apparently, Delica looked to register the name in katakana and a Japanese court has initially found in their favour on the grounds that Cecil Mcbee is not his full name - his full name is Cecil Leroy Mcbee.
It is certainly true that the girls buying clothes in Shibuya 109 have never heard of him. I think it is likely that someone saw his name and thought it sounded cool and went for it. If he was well known, they would never have used it for their shops. That doesn't mean Delica have free use but he has a long way to go to prove his case. I think he has gone to US courts just to make a point.

[omae mona]

I agree, Mulboyne-san. Now if Cecil McBee (the bassist) wants a lawsuit he can probably win, he should be checking out http://www.cecil-mcbee.com/index.html

This one unabashedly says "Cecil McBee, Bassist" but has no information about him whatsoever. Somebody just googled for a few paragraphs about jazz in general and spent 5 minutes making a web site out of it. But it does have these links faithfully reproduced on each page:

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[GargoyleTS]

He seriously complained about someone using Google and not getting info on him? What an egotistical nutjob. Should I e-mail him on how to increase his pagerank? Sheesh! And if he was truly serious, he needs to take it up with WIPO and steal the domain they use instead. He could be done with it in no time if he did that!

[Taro Toporific]

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo via Japan Today: Former Giants slugger Cromartie tries to prevent showing of movie
Former Yomiuri Giants slugger Warren Cromartie, now manager of the Samurai Bears, a U.S. independent baseball team, asked the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday to halt movie distributor Media Suits Inc's planned release in July of a film using his name. A lawyer for Cromartie said he is devoting his energy to the nurturing of young people and is angered at the film which uses his name for a bad boys' high school without prior consent. The film "Sakigake Cromartie High School — The Movie" originates from a popular gag in a weekly Japanese comic magazine.

[Mulboyne]

Cromartie has dropped his suit. It's in the Japanese press but I haven't seen much English language coverage.

Animenews: Cromartie Legal Issues Cleared Up
Ben Applegate of Toon Zone News wrote in to tell us that the legal issues between Warren Cromartie and the producers of the Charge!! Cromartie High live-action movie have been resolved. At a Saturday screening of the movie at the Puchon International Fantasy Film Festival in South Korea Yamaguchi Yudai, the film's director, stated that a compromise was reached with Cromartie that would allow the movie to be screened.

EDIT: Apologies, MDN has it here

Media Suits promised to insert a caption in the movie, which says the names of the people and schools that appear in the movie are all fictional and are not connected to actual people or organizations.