Tyra Banks has filed a suit seeking $10 million dollars in damages, against several wigmakers for trademark infringement. This is the latest celeb trademark battle that has my attention. TMZ breaks down the dirty details for us:

Tyra just filed a lawsuit in L.A. County against 10 companies that make wigs … and in the suit she claims they’re all biting her “name, photograph, image, and identity” — as well as her trademarks. We know squat about wigs … but some quick research revealed several of the companies do have Tyra’s photos and Tyra inspired wigs on their websites.  A few examples: The Yaki straight[Tyra-Banks style] wig, the Tyra Banks custom lace wig #046, and our fave — the Tyra Banks inspired human hair wig. We’re guessing it’s not actually TB’s hair you’re buying … although it does cost $300! Several pages of the lawsuit are spent on spelling out how valuable her trademark is because she’s a huge star … and to prove it her IMDB profile — all 11 pages — are attached to the suit as Exhibit A.

Public Service Announcement.

I see this issue all of the time in the beauty and fashion industries. How many times have you seen a “Chanel-inspired” jacket? Too many to name.

To my fashion industry folks. Especially the boutique owners:

The truth is you probably didn’t have ill intentions when writing product descriptions for the cool ish in your online boutique.

But, describing something as “Chloe-inspired” is essentially using a famous person’s or entity’s likeness to make sales. You are capitalizing off of a name (ahem, a brand) that was built while you were sleeping.

You can’t do that.

I know you are probably thinking, “Okay, that’s cool. But who is going to catch me?”

Remember, no one plans to get sued. I bet you those 10 wigmakers didn’t.

Kudos to Ms. Banks for protecting the brand that took her many years to build.

What are your thoughts on this case?