A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed by Playboy Enterprises. Inc. against Playboy Playmate of the Year 1981, Terri Welles. In a 48-page ruling issued this month, Judge Judith Keep of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California rejected Playboy's claims that Ms. Welles violated trademark laws by using her titles "Playboy Playmate of the Month" and "Playboy Playmate of the Year 1981" on her web site.
According to Welles' attorney, David J. Noonan of San Diego, Judge Keep, in granting Ms. Welles' motion for summary judgment, found that Ms. Welles used her titles in good faith to describe and identify herself and her web site.
Even before Playboy filed its lawsuit in February of 1998, Ms. Welles had added disclaimers to her web site (www.terriwelles.com) stating that it was not sponsored by or affiliated in any way with Playboy. In a lengthy ruling, Judge Keep noted that the "Playboy" and "Playmate" titles had become part of Welles' identity to the public, that Welles had not intended to mislead anyone, and that Playboy had presented no evidence of consumer confusion.
In May 1998, Judge Keep had denied Playboy's request for a preliminary injunction in the same case stating that "Ms. Welles has used (Playboy's) trademarks to identify herself truthfully as the Playmate of the Year 1981. Such is not "taboo" under the law.
Welles had contended throughout the litigation that she and others like her had continuously and repeatedly used their titles "Playmate of the Month" and "Playmate of the Year" to describe themselves in promoting their careers without objection and, in fact, with encouragement from Playboy and founder, Hugh Hefner. According to Welles, it was only after she refused to participate in Playboy's CyberClub web site venture that Playboy began objecting to her use of her titles on her web site.
