Veteran photographer Suze Randall expressed astonishment last Friday when she received notice from the lawyers of the Toyota auto corporation forbidding her to use the name of porn star Lexus Locklear on her web sites and videos.
The cease and desist notice states: “By its very nature, Suze Randall’s use of LEXUS in connection with the x-rated films, photographs and content in question injures Toyota’s business reputation by impairing the value of that mark as a singular identification of the highest quality products.”
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Randall shot the popular pornstar in one softcore video in 1999, a documentary of a photo shoot. She wasn’t even on the box cover. The photographer also did nearly 30 layouts of Locklear, all single-girl, no hardcore.
“We’ve never done any hardcore on that girl,” Humphry Knipe, Randall’s husband, told AVN.com. “I think somebody at Toyota must have seen it and freaked out, obviously unaware of the fact that the girl is everywhere.”
“It’s a good example of corporate absurdity,” Knipe said.
Locklear, often billed simply as Lexus throughout her career, was a Vivid contract girl during the late 1990s. She starred in such high-profile hardcores as Debbie Does Dallas: The Next Generation and Mobster’s Wife.
A search for Lexus Locklear on Google yielded 71,000 results; on Yahoo the count was 47,600. “You don’t find any references to a car at all,” Knipe said.
He and Randall have no idea why they were singled out. Although advised by legal counsel that the case has no merit—the name in the adult industry clearly refers to a woman, not a car—Knipe said they haven’t yet made a decision as to what course to take. They very well may have to comply.
“It’s too much money to fight them,” Knipe said. “They just try and squash you with legal fees. And even if you win the case you don’t get recovery of your expenses.”
Randall has until June 18 to assure Toyota that she will comply.
