2004 Lawsuit: "Everyone in my class knew about Britney Spears and her new cd named In the Zone."

[Ghoulia]

I've been reading through the other, less salacious lawsuits associated with Britney. In 2004, a t shirt company called "Lite Breeze" sued Britney, Zomba, Clear Channel, and the online merchandising store over the use of the phrase "In the Zone". This article gives an overview: 

PRESS RELEASE: Britney Spears Sued in $10 Million Trademark Infringement Action in Connection with Her In The Zone CD and Related Concert Activities

WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG

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PRESS RELEASE Britney Spears Sued in $10 Million Trademark Infringement Action in Connection With Her In The Zone CD And Related Concert Activities San Diego, CA (PRWEB) June 10, 2004 -- Lite Breeze...

"The lawsuit was filed in February, 2004; however Ms. Spears did not accept service of the legal papers until May, 2004. Although Lite Breeze has been in communication with Ms. Spears' attorney since February, Ms. Spears refused to give her attorney the authority to accept service of the legal papers. Ms. Spears avoided numerous attempts to serve her the legal papers over the past several months. Finally, Ms. Spears agreed to accept service of the papers if Lite Breeze agreed to postpone the taking of her deposition for six months. Ms. Spears and the other defendants must file their answers to the allegations by June 14, 2004."

That seems a little unfair, since she was on a worldwide tour during that time, but I digress.

Spoiler

 

The owner of Lite Breeze quotes a December 2003 Rolling Stone article critiquing the Onyx Hotel tour.

In The Zone

WWW.ROLLINGSTONE.COM

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Check out our album review of Artist's In The Zone on Rolling Stone.com.

"We have spent over 12 years building name recognition and brand loyalty with [our] trademark,” said Rodd Garner, President of Lite Breeze at the time. “In The Zone is as wholesome and All-American as hotdogs and apple pie. We are associated with sporting and musical events throughout the country.” --> 8th graders in San Diego disagree

Ms. Spears has taken Lite Breeze's brand and equated it with what Rolling Stone Magazine has stated 'offers strip-club, 1-900 s**, accommodating and hollow.'"

 That sounds like a sales pitch to me!

In one of the documents, there is a list of statements/arguments that Zomba requested to have removed from the lawsuit. One of these included a charming summary from a 14 year old boy named Aston Clarke about the words "in the zone".

  

 

 

Ultimately, Lite Breeze lost the case. 

Local Sportswear Firm Lite Breeze

WWW.SANDIEGOREADER.COM

 

Not all of the documents are available but here are some them for free on Courtlistener:

Lite Breeze Inc v. Spears, 3:04-cv-00326 – CourtListener.com

WWW.COURTLISTENER.COM

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Docket for Lite Breeze Inc v. Spears, 3:04-cv-00326 — Brought to you by the RECAP Initiative and Free Law Project, a non-profit dedicated to creating high quality open legal information.

 

 

[Kletus]

There are so many comments to be made about this but I’ll let my fellow Exhalers do the talking!!! 

[dritney]

Old news. Literally.

[Tetris]

The reaches that some people will make to go after other people’s money…

There’s a major automotive company in the US called AutoZone which began using the catchphrase “get in the zone” around 2000. They would have had a much more plausible case declaring trademark infringement against Britney/Zomba than this random-asz t-shirt company. Such greedy nonsense. 

Makes me wonder what other baseless lawsuits Brit’s had brought against her…which I imagine has been OP’s same curiosity as well. 

[Jsken]

Lite Breeze?

[Ghoulia]

55 minutes ago, dritney said:

Old news. Literally.

ok sorry, I thought it was a cute little thing to share

[Davidsoon]

39 minutes ago, Ghoulia said:

ok sorry, I thought it was a cute little thing to share

it was! 

I haven't heard about it and it's always nice to read something new from that period. So thank you 

It's seems so ridiculous and they were so greedy for her money lmao 

[Ghoulia]

1 hour ago, Tetris said:

The reaches that some people will make to go after other people’s money…

There’s a major automotive company in the US called AutoZone which began using the catchphrase “get in the zone” around 2000. They would have had a much more plausible case declaring trademark infringement against Britney/Zomba than this random-asz t-shirt company. Such greedy nonsense. 

Makes me wonder what other baseless lawsuits Brit’s had brought against her…which I imagine has been OP’s same curiosity as well. 

I was thinking of Autozone!

The weird thing is that Lite Breeze did have a trademark on the phrase “in the zone” but they still lost. 

[Isla]

It's only an issue if they trademarked the phrase. Did they? I mean it's a fairly common phrase. But unfortunately Britney couldn't use the phrase for the tour which is why it was called Onyx Hotel Tour. She already faced issues with the album title as it was originally 'Get in the Zone' but had to be shortened.

[Ghoulia]

16 minutes ago, Isla said:

It's only an issue if they trademarked the phrase. Did they? I mean it's a fairly common phrase. But unfortunately Britney couldn't use the phrase for the tour which is why it was called Onyx Hotel Tour. She already faced issues with the album title as it was originally 'Get in the Zone' but had to be shortened.

Lite Breeze did have a trademark on In The Zone* on t shirts. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Ghoulia

[Ghoulia]

2 hours ago, Davidsoon said:

it was! 

I haven't heard about it and it's always nice to read something new from that period. So thank you 

It's seems so ridiculous and they were so greedy for her money lmao 

I liked the 14 year old’s affidavit! I was kinda hoping he was an Exhale member 

[Isla]

17 minutes ago, Ghoulia said:

Lite Breeze did have a trademark on In The Zone* on t shirts. 

Oh interesting, not sure if that interfered with it being used as the title of an album? 

[Ghoulia]

5 minutes ago, Isla said:

Oh interesting, not sure if that interfered with it being used as the title of an album? 

It (the album In The Zone) is mentioned by the Lite Breeze guy - like, she should have named it something else.  However, he could really only argue that t-shirts or other clothing with the slogan printed on it was infringing on the trademark. So the Onyx hotel merch was specifically targeted as it didn’t need to say “in the zone” but since it did, Lite Breeze deserved 10 million dollars or more 

[Isla]

3 minutes ago, Ghoulia said:

It (the album In The Zone) is mentioned by the Lite Breeze guy - like, she should have named it something else.  However, he could really only argue that t-shirts or other clothing with the slogan printed on it was infringing on the trademark. So the Onyx hotel merch was specifically targeted as it didn’t need to say “in the zone” but since it did, Lite Breeze deserved 10 million dollars or more 

Yeah that makes sense. For the best the tour was renamed then.

[LandonM170]

49 minutes ago, Ghoulia said:

Lite Breeze did have a trademark on In The Zone* on t shirts. 

The trademark for music was pending and not officially registered, and that's another reason Britney had for her I think (correct me if I'm wrong), but period for her winning!! 

[ChrisBritSlo]

Wait, but I do remember there was a controversy around "In the zone" and they actually had to rename the tour? Was that another case?

[Spicechinodiva]

Madonna lost a lawsuit of the material girl fashion line, Macy's had to stop as well cos A lingerie brand took Madonna and Macy's to court, And she even tried to use the I've been associated with this phrase since 1985 and the judge dismissed that claim. 

 

So literally that actually ebdee the Macy's brand deal. ..

 

However boy toy actually owns Truth or dare due to the movie.