LOS ANGELES (AP) — Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx has sued a skateboarding magazine and the Vans shoe company for allegedly using his image in an ad without his permission.
Sixx, whose real name is Franklin C. Feranna, said in the lawsuit filed Tuesday that the defendants used photographs of him with pro skater Tony Trujillo at a San Francisco ceremony, which Thrasher magazine organized and Vans sponsored.
Sixx said he agreed to present Trujillo with a Skater of the Year award at the December 2002 ceremony because he knew Trujillo was a Motley Crue fan.
The 44-year-old musician said he was surprised to see photos taken at the ceremony in an ad for Trujillo’s signature Vans shoes. The photo also showed a marquee with the words Thrasher Magazine’s Skater of the Year Tony Trujillo.
The lawsuit said the ad appeared in Revolver, Maxim, Stuff, FHM, Blender, and Alternative Press. It said the caption above one photo, Live Fast, Die Young, was ’somewhat reminiscent of the title of Motley Crue’s first album, Too Fast For Love.
Sixx also noted that he has a clothing line, N. Sixx by Dragonfly, that seeks out the same youthful consumers Vans targets.
Vans attorney Craig Gosselin said the company hadn’t seen the lawsuit, but planned to fight it.
Thrasher publisher Ed Riggins said he didn’t believe the magazine should be named in the lawsuit because no one from Thrasher had asked that the publication’s name be included in the ad.
source: Associated Press
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