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Old Navy Settles Lawsuit with Kim Kardashian

Back in July 2011 Promgirl News reported on an interesting lawsuit filed by the queen of reality TV herself, Kim K, against mass market clothing retailer Old Navy. The suit alleged that Old Navy’s “Super C.U.T.E.” ad campaign, featuring a model and singer named Melissa Molinaro was going to violate Kardashian’s publicity rights by causing “confusion in the marketplace” due to Molinaro’s resemblance to Kardashian and the fact that the content of the ad hinted at Molinaro enjoying serious celebrity status. While legal observers questioned just how much of an impact the case’s ruling would have on the idea of a celebrity as a brand, it appears now that both Kardashian and Old Navy were none too interested in finding out as news broke today that a settlement was reached.

According to a joint statement released earlier today “The lawsuit was resolved to mutual satisfaction of both parties.” No further information on the monetary amount of the settlement have been made available at this time, but the LA Times is reporting that lawyers involved with the case were originally talking about amounts in the neighborhood of $15 to $20 million. It has also been suggested by multiple news outlets that Kardashian had sought to prevent Old Navy from ever using another look alike, though no one has confirmed whether any such language appears in the settlement.

For now it seems that those interested in finding the legal line between persona and brand for celebrities in the 21 century will have to wait for the next alleged publicity rights violation. In the meantime Kim K’s bank account just got a little bigger, though considering Old Navy’s parent company Gap Inc. has seen their fortune steadily improving over the last fiscal year perhaps they don’t mind too much.

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