What do a nonprofit hellbent on ending drunk driving and a Miami Gardens shop selling crotchless panties and see-through negligees have in common? Far too much, at least according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. MADD has filed a federal lawsuit against MaddSexy Lingerie claiming it's illegally profiting from the anti-DUI group's name.
MADD's complaint -- which could double as soft-core porn thanks to the half-dozen images the group includes of MaddSexy's topless models in risque underwear -- claims the store's "highly sexualized portrayal of women... is likely to erode MADD's credibility."
Sexy pictures or not, MADD's suit is pretty straightforward. The group says any company that spells mad with two d's is essentially stepping on its toes.
In fact, the group points out that it owns a whole mess of similarly styled group names in copyright court, including winners such as "MADD Dash," "Walk Like MADD," "SKADD," and our personal favorite nod to an Internet meme, "UMADD":
Neither MADD nor MaddSexy has returned messages from Riptide to talk about the suit, which was filed in the U.S. Southern District of Florida last Friday.
We'll update the post if we hear back.
"Mothers Against Drunk Driving is asking MADDSexy to discontinue use of the "MADD" acronym as part of their name due to concerns that their use adds confusion and dilutes the MADD brand--a brand that has been critical to our mission of saving lives and serving people for more than 30 years. We made several attempts to resolve these concerns before we were forced to file the lawsuit, however, MADDSexy was not receptive to our outreach and, in fact, ignored our last attempt at communication. MADD is not seeking damages; instead, we are simply asking that they stop using MADD as part of their name."
