Did Perez Lift His Logo?

Posted May 21st 2007 3:01PM by TMZ Staff

Perez Hilton, the self-proclaimed Queen of All Media, may have used the five-finger discount when it came to creating his logo.
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.

Filed under: Celebrity Justice

Comments [95]

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(Page 1 of 7) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

1. 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!

Posted at 4:17PM on May 21st 2007 by BITER!

2. doh! Busted!
I like Perez but yeah he needs to pick a new logo.
lol what a goof!

Posted at 4:23PM on May 21st 2007 by Bluebelle

3. 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.

Posted at 4:24PM on May 21st 2007 by Johnny

4. Not a big surprise here. He is being sued by x17online for stealing their photographs.

Posted at 4:27PM on May 21st 2007 by silversnark

5. 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.

Posted at 4:31PM on May 21st 2007 by Bumpshack

6. I'm surprised Mario's website is still getting hits.

Posted at 4:32PM on May 21st 2007 by Victoria

7. 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.

Posted at 4:35PM on May 21st 2007 by MK

8. He has the guts to out people unless it's not OKed by his puppet master, Paris Hilton.

Posted at 4:53PM on May 21st 2007 by VW

9. Perez will be guest on my Show in August..love his site

Posted at 4:56PM on May 21st 2007 by Oprah

10. 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.

Posted at 5:03PM on May 21st 2007 by TMZ rocks

11. ts ok to like more than one entertainment site."

It's also ok to prefer one over the other. As the public in general does, Perez is the one getting 5 million hits a day, does TMZ even get a million? Whatever the case it's much less. With Perez you get definite opinions, he is a liberal, TMZ tries to appeal to all sides, and therefore is comparatively cowardly. At least that's the sense of it I've gotten from my admittedly infrequent visits. I don't like fluff as much as you think...

Posted at 5:04PM on May 21st 2007 by Johnny

12. I hate Perez.

Posted at 5:05PM on May 21st 2007 by Rebecca

13. Perez Hilton is a fat, nasty louse. I hope he gets his pants sued off of him!

Posted at 5:10PM on May 21st 2007 by Andy-jaya

14. love perez! and to the comment that he never puts anything about paris on his page and tmz is more fair, go to her archives, pick her name, the strories on her, jail, etc. have all been posted accordingly, sorry tho nice try.. ;)

Posted at 5:16PM on May 21st 2007 by Ashleyyy

15. I hope they get ever damn penny out of him for that, he rips photographers off on a daily basis, and no one does anything about it, that bitch queen should be bankrupt by now if everyone sued him for copyright infringement!

Posted at 5:17PM on May 21st 2007 by THEIVESSHOULDDIE

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