Perez Hilton, the self-proclaimed Queen of All Media, may have used the five-finger discount when it came to creating his logo. 
TMZ has obtained a copy of a letter sent to Perez (real name Mario Lavandeira) from Creative Age Publications, demanding the logo be removed. In the letter, Creative Age alleges that the picture Perez uses as his logo is theirs, and that it appeared in a feature in the September 2004 issue of Nailpro -- a magazine geared toward salon owners, managers and nail technicians.
Deborah Carver, publisher of Nailpro, says, "I'm a Perez fan, but he can't use our award-winning photos. This isn't the first time he's done this. These are proprietary works that take an entire team of people to put together."
The letter, which is dated today, reads, "Please be advised that our client is entitled to seek statuatory damages for willful copyright infringement up to $150,000 per work infringed."
Lavandeira's lawyer says he has not received any such letter yet. For his response, expect Perez to post a picture of a fingernail with white dots on it.
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Reader Comments
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Perez's site was most likely down because of the Svedka vodka ads being added to the site. As for the logo i always found it odd that it doesn't align properly.
I thought I reconized that picture. (I'm a nail school drop out.) I hope he doesn't have to tangle with Jan Arnold. (CEO of Creative Nails.) She's pretty crafty, after all she used her husband's denist supplies to fix a broken nail before a dinner party. (And a nail empire was born.)
Thanks for running this story TMZ. My wife is addicted to this site and it was cool for her to see my image here even if it was a story about Perez. I've been trying to get him to stop using my image in his logo for a couple years now and it wasn't until my client, Creative Age (not affiliated with Creative Nails, other than they are an advertiser) got involved, that it finally did the trick.
He soooo TOTALLY COPIED that image! Can't he be sued for that? Especially since it was already published in a magazine AND was copywrited already!
Not a big surprise here. He is being sued by x17online for stealing their photographs.
doh! Busted!
I like Perez but yeah he needs to pick a new logo.
lol what a goof!
Perez's site is still way better than this one, since Perez has the balls to out people.TMZ is merely fluff, sorry if the truth hurts.
well it appears you like the fluff then.....
TMZ is the bomb.
Perez is good too.
Its ok to like more than one entertainment site.
Is there nothing this pig doesn't steal?
He plagarizes from other blogs, he steals photos, he's stolen money from friends.
What a disgusting excuse for a human being.
Johnny, "since Perez has the balls to out people". Perez NEVER does anything on Paris Hilton. He only "outs people" he doesn't like. At least TMZ is fair. Perez is always a day late and a dollar short. Isn't this his second law suit? Tsk tsk tsk.
its a completley different picture of another eye... and you can tell by examining it WITH the naked eye.
there is no dispute, the logo is similar and yeah he copied the idea, but it is NOT the same logo
key different features are, the arch in the eye brow are different, the original has an arch- the perezcopy doesn't have an arch
the eye color (though could be manipulated in photoshop) is different
the finger above the nail is missing all together
and there are so many different differences
it is a completley different photo.
its a completley different picture of another eye... and you can tell by examining it WITH the naked eye.
there is no dispute, the logo is similar and yeah he copied the idea, but it is NOT the same logo
key different features are, the arch in the eye brow are different, the original has an arch- the perezcopy doesn't have an arch
the eye color (though could be manipulated in photoshop) is different
the finger above the nail is missing all together
and there are so many different differences
it is a completley different photo.
He has the guts to out people unless it's not OKed by his puppet master, Paris Hilton.
