Howard Stern's Cousin to "Bee Movie" -- Buzz Off!

Posted Nov 2nd 2007 1:08PM by TMZ Staff

Howard Stern's cousin Richie made a bee-line to sue the makers of the new "Bee Movie," claiming they ripped off his company's popular catchphrase used to sell their honey-based skin care products. Swat that away!
Breaking News
TMZ has obtained the stinging lawsuit, in which BeeCeuticals of Fort Lauderdale is buzzing mad at Dreamworks and Paramount, saying the "Give Bees a Chance" slogan used in marketing the film was their idea. The suit, filed in federal court by Stern's cousin, bee-lister Richie Gerber, alleges the slogan has been used more than 400 times on Stern's radio show, and was usurped by Jerry Seinfeld's new animated bee flick.

The suit also claims that movie companies approached BeeCeuticals about a promotional offer, but the deal was never struck. "Bee Movie" flies into theaters today.

Dreamworks did not return our call for comment.

Filed under: Celebrity Justice

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1. First

Posted at 1:49PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by o ya

2.

If Burt's Bees leaves them alone, then why the fuss?

Oh, yeah. Money. I guess Howard's cuz needs a little "nuisance" money to shut up and go away.

Bees. Imagine that. A flaming lawsuit over....bees.

Posted at 1:51PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by OCD

3. What? who cares..it looks like a cute movie

Posted at 1:51PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by what ever

4.

WE DONT EVEN CARE ABOUT HOWARD MUCH LESS HIS FREAKING SURE TO BE LIKE LOWLIFE COUSIN!

BUZZ OFF WITH THE COUSIN BIT.
HOWARD ISNWORTH A BUZZ, HIS NO-NAME COUSIN SURE DONT!

NOT GIT!!!

Posted at 1:58PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by BUZZ OFF....WE DONT EVEN LIKE HOWARD!

5.

okay, okay, okay, its these names that are so similar.
i apologize. i thought we were talking about the murderer HOWARD K. STERN.

HOWARD STERN, WE LIKE.
HOWARD K. STERN WE NO LIKE.
i apolozize!

Posted at 2:03PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by BUZZ OFF....WE DONT EVEN LIKE HOWARD!

6.
what is this now?
first they sue Jerry's wife for stealing recipes
now they are after jerry for stealing bees

is this a mushroom trip?

Posted at 2:06PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by AWWWW , LET THIS ONE SLIP THRU CRACKS...work it out guys

7. I listen to Howard everyday and yes, his cousin's advertisements run ALL the time. I'm sure Howard will bring this up on Monday. It IS pretty shady!

Posted at 2:07PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by Mushy

8. Very thing about this is that I have heard the Bee-ceuticals company advertisement on the Stern channel many many times and when I first saw the Bee-Movie add using it I immediately made the connection back. Those that say the lawsuit is just for money should know that this guy is already doing pretty well for himself. He's had companies purchase by whole foods and based on their success, I'm sure that there was some pretty good money in that sale. Some people are funny because they hear Stern's name mentioned and immediately they think negatively. Most of the time it is the people that haven't ever listened to more than five minutes of his show. "Buzz off...We don't even like Howard". Hmmm. Based on the continually growing number of subsribers and the success of his own privately owned television network, I would go out on a limb and say that he's pretty well liked. This lawsuit is between the movie companies and the Beeceuticals company. It has nothing to do with Howard.

Posted at 2:08PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by Steve

9. Idle lawsuits are the devils playground...

*click on my name to check out my fashion blog! xo

Posted at 2:08PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by Alana Joy

10. BOTH him and his wife are in lawsuits for ripping off other people's ideas. AND I BELIEVE IT! I'm not even in the cookbook biz, but I knew when his bee-snatch wife was on all the talk shows a couple weeks ago, I saw that stuff by some other lady before. NOW THIS!!

P.S. His wife was a rude snotbag to the the TV hosts I saw her with, i.e. Regis. Who on earth feels a need to be a snotbag to Regis?!?

Posted at 2:35PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by JustSayin

11. TMZ seems to need a resident attorney on this site, - with all the lawsuits going on. Is Star Jones available?

Posted at 2:44PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by DIANE T

12. The game never changes......people that can not make money on their own try to take it away from the people that do know how to make money.....

Posted at 2:53PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by LuvUBrit

13. Hey, if his "sneaky" wife can steal from another's cookbook , he can follow along and steal too, hey it's only MONEY.

Posted at 2:55PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by whatever you say

14. PS: Oprah's show turned down the real author of Sneaky Chef, and put on Seinfeld.

She later got over 20 pairs of designer shoes from Seinfeld..... Boo. (Valued at
over $200,000.

Posted at 2:58PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by whatever you say

15. BeeCueticals is correct for suing the filmmakers. They've been advertising using that slogan "give bees a chance" for at least a year. I'm not sure if BeeCeuticals advertises with any other media outlets but they definitely pay Sirius Satellite radio to advertise on the Stern Show channels.

As soon as I saw the trailer and heard the slogan I knew that it was a ripoff. Seinfeld even had Oprah using the phrase when he was on her show promoting the movie a couple of weeks ago.

Good for you BeeCeuticals!

Posted at 3:26PM on Nov 2nd 2007 by SternShowFanVA

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