Dunham v. Lei, et al., No. 20-cv-03716 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 23, 2020)

Dunham v. Lei, et al., No. 20-cv-03716 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 23, 2020)

In April of this year, Jeff Dunham, one of the top ten highest paid comedians of 2019, filed a lawsuit against Ooshirts, Inc., and its owner Raymond Lei, for the unauthorized selling of merchandise brandishing Dunham’s name and characters in an attempt to profit off of the Covid-19 pandemic. The suit alleges that Ooshirts, Inc. exploited the name, photograph, image/or likeness of Jeff Dunham, which are protected copyrights and trademarks owned by Dunham, on face masks and t-shirts. Dunham seeks no less than $150,000 per registered copyright, no less than $2 million per registered trademark, $10 million in general and special damages, and all profits from the sale of the unauthorized merchandise. On the positive side of things, Dunham and his wife plan to contribute the recovered damages in this suit to charities benefiting Covid-19 relief efforts.

by Arya Mansour