New York, get ready for an epic game of naked cowboys and indians.
Street performer Robert Burck — known to tourists as the Naked Cowboy — has turned his ability to sing country tunes while wearing nothing but a hat, boots, briefs and a strategically placed guitar into a cottage industry. He’s even launched a presidential campaign, telling TMZ that he is “very conservative” and has an “unapologetic commitment to our borders, our language and our culture.”
Burck is therefore less than pleased to have his territory invaded, and has accused newcomer Aam David, a.k.a. the Naked Indian, of stealing his act. "I’ve been here [in Times Square] 365 days, every day, for 13 years and change,” Burck told the New York Daily News. “He’s only been here 16 days and missed two already.”
Burck wants David to join his company, Naked Cowboy Enterprises, which includes variants on the “Naked” theme- or else face a hefty lawsuit.
Such threats don’t seen to have fazed David, who claims to have a “word-of-mouth contract” with his rival. “This country was built on handshakes and word-of-mouth agreements. I don’t lose, I always win,” he said.
He might want to reconsider whether he’d win against Burck, who is very protective of his brand, which he trademarked in 2000, and has become something of a veteran when it comes to filing lawsuits.
In 2008 Burck sued Mars Inc., the company behind M&Ms, albeit unsuccessfully, for $6 million. He took issue with a commercial that shows an M&M dressed in an outfit similar to his own, in front of what appears to be Times Square
Three years later Burck filed a trademark infringement suit for $1.5 million against the CBS network, over the appearance of a drunken man in dressed in cowboy hat and carrying a guitar, in promos for the drama series ”The Bold and the Beautiful.”
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