July Most Ridiculous Lawsuit Poll: The 'How Dare You Have the Same Name as I' Edition

By Bryan Quigley
July 17, 2009

My name is Bryan Quigley.  Growing up in Springfield, Missouri, I was the only “Bryan Quigley” I knew.  But now, thanks to instant information available on the Web and the explosion of social networking Web sites, I realize my name is not as unusual as I once assumed. 

Quick searches on Facebook and LinkedIn tell me there are at least 22 others with the name “Bryan Quigley” around the world—including three in Northern Virginia, where I currently reside. Add those to the 132 “Brians” spelled with an “I”, and we have our own little Bryan/Brian Quigley army. But heaven forbid any one of us becomes rich and/or famous—we just might be facing a lawsuit.

Unfortunately, for Katie Perry, she knows this all too well. 

Katie Perry, a fashion designer from Australia, has been sued by Katy Perry, the pop singer from the U.S, in order to prevent “Katie” (spelled with an “IE”) from using her own name as a trademark for her clothing line.  Ironically enough, “Katy Perry” (spelled with a “Y”) is a stage name: she was born Katy Hudson.

I don’t know if Katie Perry the fashion designer can sing, but if this lawsuit succeeds, she may have to find a second career to pay for all the legal fees for the lawsuits brought by the more than 800 other “Katie/Katy Perrys” we found online.

We thought the “Katie/Katy Perry” lawsuit was a deserving nominee for our July Most Ridiculous Lawsuit of the Month Award.  But whether it is the most ridiculous is up to you. Check out all the nominees and vote for your favorite:

• A San Diego attorney sued the Oakland Athletics for sex discrimination over a Mother’s Day giveaway at its ballpark;
• The jailed double-murderer sued the slain couple’s family for rights to his victims’ classic Chevy pickup;
• A KFC grilled chicken promotional giveaway triggered a lawsuit from a distraught customer when the food ran out; and,
• Ostracized after admitting steroid use, former big-leaguer Jose Canseco sued Major League Baseball and the players’ association for lost wages and defamation of character.

Go to www.FacesOfLawsuitAbuse.org and cast your vote today.  And while you’re at it, check out June’s Most Ridiculous Lawsuit winner: the inmate who sued to avoid being named the Guinness Book of World Records’ most litigious person in the world.