Survivor vs. Survivor

By Rachelle Bowden in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 27, 2004 10:52AM

Survivor, the washed up 80s band, sued Survivor, the reality TV show and.. guess what? They lost. Didn't see that coming.

Lead guitarist Frankie Sullivan brought the case against CBS, the producers of the Survivor TV show and TVT Records, which produced Survivor soundtrack albums. In 1994 Sullivan registered his band's name as a trademark for "musical services." He cited Internet search results (take a look at a Google search for "survivor".. the band is not to be seen!) and argued the potential for consumers' confusion with the soundtracks, T-shirts and other merchandise for the TV show. Sullivan said that the series' use of the name hurt the band because it would take away from the millions of dollars in records and merchandise he sells each year. Yeh.. right.. Like if it weren't for the TV show Survivor we'd all be out there buying the band Survivor's CDs? They haven't even made a new album since 1993. He also claims that the show is benefiting from the millions that the band spent on advertising.

A 3-judge panel in Chicago's 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals basically told Sullivan to lay off the crack pipe. First of all, the trademark he had didn't even cover merchandise. And secondly, there's no way that "the average consumer" wouldn't know the different between the group and the TV show.