RameyThis is one little monster that's not feeling Lady Gaga's motherly love.
In an effort to ensure that her unique image stays that way, Gaga has scored an injunction against the company behind the viral video sensation known as Lady Goo Goo, a tiny, spoofy, animated version of the singer that regularly releases kid-friendly copycat versions of her greatest hits.
Which was fun while it lasted. But Gaga proved she's not exactly cuckoo for Goo Goo.
Gaga actually won the injunction against the website Moshi Monsters—a UK site that's been touted as Facebook for kids—and its parent company Mind Candy, which was responsible for the cartoon (one of 52 in their arsenal) that dresses and acts like a baby version of Gaga.
Some of her, er, its hits include "Peppy-razzi" and "The Moshi Dance" (sadly, the official videos have already been removed from YouTube, though unofficial versions abound and lyrics were along the lines of: "my stroller's pretty and my diapers are silk/I throw my toys out if I don't get my milk").
It's the latter tune that appeared to be particularly irksome to Gaga's legal team, as the viral video for the song became so popular that the Goo Goo tune was set to be sold on iTunes.
The trademark ruling handed down in London's High Court this week sided with Gaga that the cartoon and its songs might cause "consumer confusion" and subsequently ordered that Moshi could not to release the tune in any form.
Justice Vos ruled that Mind Candy was prevented from "promoting, advertising, selling, distributing, or otherwise making available to the public The Moshi Dance or any musical work or video which purports to be performed by a character by the name of Lady Goo Goo, or which otherwise uses the name Lady Goo Goo or any variant thereon."
However, in a small victory, the judge did rule that Goo Goo could still appear in a Moshi Monsters game, just without the copycat song.
For their part, Mind Candy called the ruling "a dangerous precedent" and "a huge disappointment," claiming there's no way fans would confuse the two.
Apparently, that wasn't a risk Gaga was willing to take.