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Tom Waits vs. Frito-Lay, Inc (2003)


Copyright: Waits V. Frito-Lay "I get it all the time, and they offer people a whole lot of money.

The snack-food giant actually hit on the notion that "Step Right Up" would make the perfect jingle to introduce their newest corn-chip flavor, Salsa Rio Doritos. The initial efforts of the ad agency's creative team, using a respected professional singer with a deep bluesy voice, met with disapproval from executives at both Tracy- Locke and Frito-Lay. Discussing the right of publicity, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the jury's verdict that the defendants had committed the "Midler tort" by misappropriating Tom Waits' voice for commercial purposes.

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Frito-Lay Inc