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Brand Joile...nah

When you have such a global presence (and you are not Coca Cola) does that give you hegemony over your name and the names of those associated with you?

Check out this story about the actress Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie has dropped her legal battle with a perfume-maker who planned to give her new fragrance the same name as the star's daughter Shiloh. The actress filed a note with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in January after discovering Israeli/French perfume-maker Symine Salimpour was naming her newest scent Shiloh. Salimpour was shocked, claiming she was inspired by Shiloh's Hebrew meaning "his gift" and not Jolie and partner Brad Pitt's 13-month-old daughter. The Washington Post now claims the legal challenge has been dropped and Salimpour can go ahead - and she has vowed to donate five per cent of the perfume's profits to an Israeli non profit organization that provides medical and educational services for disabled children. She tells the newspaper, "I was so scared. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't be? In Hebrew, Shiloh means 'his gift.' And I will use the perfume to give something back to the children of Israel and the Middle East."


How far gone do you have to be to imagine that your celebrity gives you the right to appropriate material in the public domain?

The name Shiloh is not the property of Angelina Jolie any more than David becomes mine if I slap (R) next to it or if I have millions of dollars.

We need to be vigilant about copyright laws.

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