Adult entertainment mogul Larry Flynt hired his two nephews to work for him. While nepotism led to their employment, it didn’t get in the way of their dismissal when they turned out to be incompetent. The elder Flynt paid off his nephews with $100,000, which the two Flynt boys decided to use to set up an adult entertainment business. The problem is that they plan to name their company “Flynt media,” which Larry sees as cashing in on the name he made famous in the business. He is trying to legally block the use of the name “Flynt” for their new venture:
Flynt, the wheelchair-bound publisher of Hustler magazine, is locked in a bitter legal dispute with nephews Jimmy Flynt II and Dustin Flynt to block them from starting a new adult-entertainment video company that the duo want to call Flynt Media.
Larry Flynt has fired off a cease-and-desist letter to his brother’s kids demanding they drop the Flynt name from their new company.
“The law does not recognize surnames as trademarks,” said John P. Hains, an attorney for Larry Flynt. “It causes confusion.”
But the nephews say they are determined to unveil their new adult-entertainment video line at a trade show in Las Vegas next month under the Flynt Media name.
“This is the name of our company,” said Jimmy Flynt II. “He feels because he is a celebrity he can have control over the name in everything. We disagree with that.”
He added that he’s already received trademark acceptance for the name in Europe, and has applications pending in the US.
In an interview with Media Ink, Larry Flynt said that the nephews worked for him until a year or so ago.
“I gave them each $100,000 severance, and they used it to go into business against me,” he said.
He said he would have no objection if his nephews went into another line of work using the Flynt name. But he does object to them entering the same lucrative business that he’s been in for 36 years.
This sounds like a case of two fired employees trying to use the name of their former employer to make money. Larry seems to be within his rights to demand that they not use his name to compete with him in the same industry, even if they happen to share that name. The Flynt nephews worked for their uncle for over a decade, however, which brings up some questions about why they were fired:
Larry Flynt said he let his nephews go because “they weren’t productive. The thing about nepotism in business, it only works if they are productive. They had a sense of entitlement and didn’t feel that they had to work.”
Jimmy Flynt II countered, “That’s ridiculous. If that’s the case, why did he employ me for 14 years?”
Were the young Flynts laid off because of poor workplace performance, because of the struggling economy, or did Uncle Larry just tire of them?
There are plenty of other names they could use to start their own company instead of relying on the one that their uncle established as a leader in the industry. Surely they know that it’s an advantage to use their famous last name instead of doing business under a new name.
Larry Flynt is shown at the Directors Guild of America honors on 10/16/08. Credit: PRPhotos
Flynt does carry quite an esteemed prestige and clout to those lucky enough to have it. Like the Vanderbilts, Hearsts and Carnegie’s, I can see why he is so protective of his good name.
I disagree. Both the nephews have the last name of Flynt. They should be allowed to use their own last name if they want.
I was joking!
You shouldn’t be joking, devilgirl. I don’t particularly like vodka, but wouldn’t belittle the Smirnoff family for its accomplishments.
An Empire is an Empire, and I guarantee Flynt’s subscription base dwarfs Hearst publications, or Vanderbilt’s sales. WR Hearst was a complete scumbag, at least Flynt doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not– a fine upstanding citizen. He’s not even Heflike, desperately trying to project a stud image.
Flynt sold a commodity and made no bones about it. He’s a rich publisher and a self-made man who did nothing illegal to get where he is (as the Supreme Court clarified for us), up from dirt-poor.
MsTriste: the fact that it’s their real name is irrelevant, legally speaking, if it could cause confusion among the buying public. If you watch the movie The ‘Net, Dennis Miller had to go by a different name, since it was his first SAG project and another actor already had the name, even though the other one was more famous.
Same idea as Bill Macy (from MAUDE) and William H. Macy.
Here in California, you can name a business by your own name. Thats what those nephews are doing and I don’t see how Larry Flynt can stop them since the name belongs to them as well.
SAG is a completely different animal.
It’s the same principal as the SAG example, i.e. consumer confusion and name ownership rights issues (regardless of what state you live in).
Yes, you can name your business after yourself UNLESS the name has already been trademarked by someone else. Often, if the companies are not in the same industry, the one who TM’ed it first will give their permission, but they are not required to.
A diner in upstate NY was A. Lexus (the owner’s name) for decades, but they didn’t trademark it, so when the Lexus car company came to town, the corporation sued for infringement.
The diner was forced by the courts to remove their signage and change the name to avoid confusion, now they are known as “Alexis”.
Larry Flint trademarked his name years ago, and most gaming – video companies DO NOT use familial names, which leads me to think they want the Flynt name for it’s established name recognition, and that is called Good Will in legal talk, and that’s the valuation of a brand. Sooo the nephews are probably not going to be able to use the name.
You should look into what Larry Flynt has done for freedom of speech in this country, you may not like his magazine but his main business is actually leasing jets and always has been, he owns several large buildings in the Wilshire quarter as well. He’s been instrumental in fighting political corruption, you may be surprised by this man if you read up on him.
larry flynt’s name will never have anything to do with prestige.
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