Big Snag for Oscar Swag Bags

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For years, Distinctive Assets, a marketing company specializing in product promotion and placement, mounted an annual campaign to “win” during Hollywood’s awards season by giving away its highly publicized nominee gift bags.

However, according to Wednesday’s Hollywood Reporter, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences does not want to be thanked. It has instead filed a lawsuit against Distinctive Assets founder Lash Fary, which cites trademark infringement and for allegedly perpetuating the impression that there’s a connection between the company and the Oscars.

The complaint issued by the Academy, represented by attorneys at Quinn Emanuel, said Distinctive Assets’ activities were “likely to dilute the distinctiveness of the Academy’s famous trademarks and tarnish their goodwill,” and that “press about the 2016 gift bags has focused (on) the less-than-wholesome nature of some of the products contained in the bags” and the “ unseemliness of giving such high value gifts, including trips costing tens of thousands of dollars, to an elite group of celebrities.” Sex toys and the like reportedly are among the items in the bag.

The bags, whose 2016 edition is valued at approximately $220,000 each, were promoted with such slogans such as, “Everyone Wins Nominee Gift Bags in Honor of the Oscars.”

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