On The Avoidance of Naked Lawsuits

On CNN.com today, there's a front page article announcing that the "Naked Cowboy" has been given the green light to pursue a lawsuit against Mars candy, the makers of M & Ms, for trademark infringement. 

Funny enough, a CNN analyst thinks he has a case and could win a tidy sum.

At Swift Kick, we go way back with Mr. Cowboy, aka Robert Burk.  We found him in some small town after a NACA conference and couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a little video of him with a "Free Hugs" sign.  (Free Hugs is a metaphor / case study for social networking in our leadership and tech training.)

Here's the clip. Pay special attention to the end.  We, unlike Mars candy, covered our legal bases : )

Naked Free Hugs from kevin prentiss on Vimeo.

Joking aside, the Naked Cowboy clearly understands the value of open content.  He's obviously done that little end bit once or twice before.

Whether or not he read The Long Tail, he's built his brand and fame on millions of FREE tourist style impressions just like ours. He's done it by being out there (well, right) and open (ahem . . . naked). You can connect the dots to our typical blog themes on your own.   

I'm sure if Mars had asked nicely, Robert would have been happy to participate for substantially less than the 6 Million he stands to win in the lawsuit.

Either way, god bless America.