Baby Gaga Ice Cream Deemed Fit for Consumption; Lady Gaga Threatens Lawsuit

The London shop that sells ice cream made with donated breast milk has
reportedly been cleared to continue selling the product after government
tests determined it was fit for human consumption. Additional details about
the investigation into Baby Gaga ice cream appear in Issue 384 of this Update.
The owner of Icecreamists, the store that sells the product, is apparently
considering legal action against the Westminster Council, which confiscated
the product for quality-control tests. Owner Matt O’Connor was quoted as
saying, “They should have waited until they got the tests back before saying
our product could have been a risk to the public.”

Meanwhile, attorneys for pop superstar Lady Gaga have sent a cease and
desist letter to the ice cream store, accusing it of unfairly cashing in on her
name and image and demanding that it stop using the Baby Gaga name.
They reportedly called the ice cream “nausea-inducing,” and threatened to
sue for trademark infringement and “passing off.” O’Connor has responded,
“She claims we have ‘ridden the coattails’ of her reputation. As someone who
has plagiarized and recycled on an industrial scale, the entire back catalogue
of pop-culture to create her look, music and videos, she might want to
re-consider this allegation.” The ice cream is sold for about $22 a serving and
is presented to customers by a blonde woman in a tight, sparkling outfit,
according to a news source. See Yahoo! News, March 5, 2011; NPR, March 9,
2011; Toronto Sun, March 10, 2011.