Have you heard about The Naked Cowboy suing M&Ms for trademark infringement? This dude may be naked but he sure wasn’t exposed.

The net/net of the story is that Robert Burck, aka The Naked Cowboy, sued Mars in April for $6 million in federal court in NY. The allegation was trademark infringement for an M&Ms video billboard that Burck claimed used his likeness. Clearly Mars underestimated the good looking guy in his underwear who looks like he walked right out of a Calvin Klein ad.

Let’s look at the facts. The Naked Cowboy only wears tighty whities, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, and plays the guitar in Times Square.  The blue M&M in the ad only wears tighty whities, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, and plays the guitar in Times Square. Houston we got a problem. To make matters worse, the M&M video played on a continuous loop every few minutes over a nine month period. Ruh-roh!

In this case, naked does not mean dumb. Burck had the smarts to register trademarks for “The Naked Cowboy” name and likeness. And the dude appears to have a little Web 2.0 flowing through his exposed veins. In addition to his website that sells his famous skivvies, you can download his music on iTunes, check him out on his podcast, MySpace, and Naked Cowboy TV. This guy knows branding better than the candy guys trying to rip him off. He is as entrepreneurial as every venture-backed company on the planet. And (cowboy) hats off to him ’cause he did it all on his own. Yeehaw!

This past week, U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin let the cowboy continue singing his song. In a long and at times humorous ruling, Judge Chin didn’t let the candy melt in his hand as he tossed out Mars’ attempt to dismiss The Naked Cowboy’s lawsuit. The judge noted that Burck has appeared as The Naked Cowboy in numerous movies, TV shows, video games and has a track record of licensing his name and likeness for endorsements, including a Super Bowl XLI ad for Chevrolet. Three cheers for the underdog…and his underwear! You can bet if I put on an M&Ms suit and started running around selling cowboy hats under their brand, they would have their 3 Muskateer lawyers slap a lawsuit on me and certainly would be Snicker(ing) as they tried to destroy me. I hope The Naked Cowboy is awarded a sum of money large enough to launch his likeness into the Milky Way. 

Do you think Mars should pony up some money to The Naked Cowboy?

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