Gameloft Files Trademark Suit Against ‘Naked Cowboy’

Gameloft, Europe’s largest maker of games for mobile phones, sued Robert Burck, the New York street performer known as the “Naked Cowboy,” to halt claims that its New York Nights game infringes Burck’s trademark.

The French company, in a complaint filed last week in federal court in Los Angeles, asked for an order declaring that its use of a guitar-playing character named Nick with a cowboy hat in Times Square is protected by the First Amendment and doesn’t infringe Burck’s rights.

Above: The Game Character in Question

“Not only is the Nick character a minor part of the game, but he is a humorous caricature that imitates the style of Times Square performers for comic effect and is not a literal depiction of the Naked Cowboy,” Gameloft said in its complaint.

Burck, a guitar player who poses with tourists wearing only his cowboy hat, boots and white briefs, has threatened to take legal action and seek monetary damages, Gameloft said.

(via Bloomberg.com)