Miel Gibson: Chilean honey vendor in sticky situation with Braveheart star

By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

 

Image: Reuters file photo

 

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A pun on the Spanish word for "honey" and the name of one of the world's most famous actors has landed a small scale Chilean vendor in a sticky situation.

 

Yohanna Agurto used an image of Mel Gibson from the 1995 movie "Braveheart" to promote her honey, Miel Gibson, along with the slogan "only for the brave."

 

This week she received a letter from the actor's lawyers saying her use of his name and likeness violated Gibson's rights, and threatening legal action if she did not withdraw the product immediately.

 

The letter was signed by an assistant to Leigh Brecheen, a California-based lawyer.

 

Breechen told Reuters the letter was aimed at preventing the use of Gibson's image, not banning the honey's name.

 

"You need to get permission to use or duplicate a photo still from a film, which is owned by the respective studio that released the film," she said. "None of this is meant to prevent anyone from earning an income or creating a business, but there are proper channels to contact and clearances you need to go through to make sure you have the approval for such usage."

 

Agurto told Reuters from her home in the capital Santiago she was so frightened on receiving the letter on Wednesday that she deleted her work email account.

 

She had only started repacking and selling the southern Chilean product in June after the spread of the coronavirus caused widespread unemployment, she said, adding she only earned enough to support her family.

 

"This arose out of necessity. I was left without work due to the pandemic," Agurto said.

 

After she shared the letter with Chilean media, she said, her following on social media grew "exponentially."

 

On Thursday, she addressed an appeal directly to the actor on Twitter: "Dear #MelGibson, would you let us use your image on our honey please? Mis kids and me we would be infinitely grateful. Our honey is only for brave hearts."

 

Gibson's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

(Reporting by Natalia Ramos, writing by Aislinn Laing; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-16

 

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Well, he use the color of the Argentina flag without permission... Clown!

 

Seems like a reasonable request. She can still call it Miel Gibson along with the slogan "only for the brave"

 

I recall a popular Houston bar called the Velvet Elvis that was named after the kitch, gaudy luminous image of Elvis painted on black velvet that hung on a wall. Elvis's estate and lawyers were very nasty when it came to their perception of rights and copyright violations. It took the owner a couple of years but he won the rights to retain the name and the hang the picture.

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/1997/01/06/story6.html

We had a salon in my home city that named its self BRITISH HAIRWAYS.  They even used the same colours and fonts for the sign. BA were a little aggrieved and went legal on the 'infringement'.  They did drop the case after 2 years.

 

 

1 hour ago, Tarteso said:

Well, he use the color of the Argentina flag without permission... Clown!

 

Nope. The Scots were using the blue field (white saltire on the field)  500+ years ago.

 

The Manuel Belgrano version of the Argentina flag  only  appeared in the early 1800's.

 

It seems your  claim has been sunk, much as the Falklands liberation task force sunk the Belgrano.

She should not worry too much, there are lots of Gibson in the world, but miel has nothing to do

with Mel, miel is the Spanish and French name for honey! Honey Gibson?! Why not.

.... and he finally overtakes Bono in the level of tw@tism.

1 hour ago, geriatrickid said:

It seems your  claim has been sunk,

Mel didn't use the diagonal? 

1 hour ago, DaLa said:

We had a salon in my home city that named its self BRITISH HAIRWAYS.  They even used the same colours and fonts for the sign. BA were a little aggrieved and went legal on the 'infringement'.  They did drop the case after 2 years.

 

 

Of course they did, copyright is to prevent people being confused (and cheats using other people their marketing budget). But nobody would think this store would be selling airfares. 

 

So there is no direct competition so no case.

 

 

3 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

It seems your  claim has been sunk

Nop. Nothing has been sunk here and your claim is another war matter. ????

If I was him, I’d give her the permission, after all it’s just a women and a few family members in a dire situation and not a huge company! 

9 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Miel Gibson

I wonder if he's related to Mel, looks a bit like him! ???? 

32 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

If I was him, I’d give her the permission, after all it’s just a women and a few family members in a dire situation and not a huge company! 

Probably just the legal team making money by charging him for the hour ... Protecting copyright ...  He may not even know about it ... 

How bout a name change to, "The honey of the christ."?

There was a burger shop owner named Mac, who had for years promoted a burger called Big Mac. McDonalds moved down the road and immediately accused him of appropriating the name of one of their horrific burgers. He fought them and won. If you ever go to the Gold Coast in Australia you will find the shop still proudly selling the Big Mac at Bilinga.

I wonder how Mel and his lawyers even found out about it. It's not like she's a global distributor of a major honey business.

 

Resentful and jealous competitors probably snitched on her.

11 hours ago, rvaviator said:

Probably just the legal team making money by charging him for the hour ... Protecting copyright ...  He may not even know about it ...

Maybe...