50 Cent Looking for Big Change Outta Taco Bell

[WSJ_law_blog]

This afternoon, as we pored over a complaint, filed in New York federal court by rapper 50 Cent, our new editor, Jennifer Forsyth, asked a fair question: What does “50 Cent” mean? Not surprisingly, this exposed a gap in our admittedly shoddy knowledge of things hip-hop. We’ve seen “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” the 2005 biopic of Curtis Jackson (a/k/a 50 Cent), but this item of trivia still eluded us.

With some research we discovered — and we apologize to those LB readers for whom this is common knowledge — that the young Jackson took his name from Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as “50 Cent”. Jackson chose the name, he’s said in interviews, because it’s a metaphor for change and he is the same kind of person the first 50 cent was — someone who provided for himself by any means.

Now, 50 Cent is trying to provide a little more for himself — through legal means. He’s suing Taco Bell, a division of Yum! Brands Inc., for, among other things, trademark infringement, alleging that the restaurant drafted a fake letter (attached at the end of the complaint) purporting to ask Jackson to change his name to “79 Cent,” “89 Cent” or “99 Cent” in order to publicize its “79-89-99 Cent Why Pay More Value Menu.”

Taco Bell released the letter to the national press in June before sending it to Jackson, the complaint alleges. “Simply put, Taco Bell knew that it would likely have had to pay Jackson a multi-million-dollar fee to get his endorsement, even if he had agreed to do it — which is in doubt,” says the suit, which was filed by Reed Smith’s Peter D. Raymond and Wallace B. Neel. “Rather than face rejection or pay fair value, Taco Bell chose to steal his endorsement and to enjoy all the publicity of being associated with a mega-star while bearing none of the costs.”

A message placed by Dow Jones Newswires reporter Chad Bray to Yum! Brands was not returned.

Here’s the top of the letter/advertisement:

Dear Mr. Jackson:We know that you adopted the name 50 Cent years ago as a metaphor for change. We at Taco Bell are also huge advocates of change. In fact, for just a few spare coins, we’re giving consumers more variety for less money with our new 79-89-99 Why Pay More value menu . . . So here’s our offer of change to you: For one day this summer, change your name either 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent by showing up to one of our more than 5,600 locations nationwide and rapping your order in the drive thru with your new moniker.