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12/21/2006: "Proud Mary"
Mary Carey is currently taking steps to trademark her self-applied name, which is more than similar to Mariah Carey’s birth-name. What’s the big deal you may ask? WorldNetDaily’s 2005 “Bimbo of the Year”, Mary Carey, is arguably the most popular of female porn stars behind Jenna Jameson. Now, she seeks to register the trademark for audio and video recordings, which is sure to cause confusion and conflict of interests. In October of this year, a lawyer for Mariah threatened legal action if the application was not withdrawn.
Mary Ellen Cook was born on June 15th, 1980 but changed her name to Mary Carey in an obvious attempt to bring publicity upon herself. She chose this particular name because (blind) people had commented that she resembled the beautiful singer. Mary tells Reuters, “I'm ready to battle Mariah over this because I've been Mary Carey for a long time.” Oh, contraire, lady of pleasure! Mary Cook changed her name to Mary Carey in 2002 just before the porn princess ran for California governor against Arnold Schwarzenegger. Strange? Mary Carey’s life has been a strange one up to this point.
She was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother and father who were both mentally handicapped. Her grandparents adopted her and raised her in Florida where her mother eventually moved in with them. Her grandfather died when she was 16 from cancer and her grandmother soon developed Parkinson’s disease. Mary was a ballet and dance student until 19 when she enrolled at Florida State and joined the dance team. Her grandmother’s condition grew worse and money was in short supply. Whether or not for that reason, Mary got a job as a model on an adult Internet site, which led her to being an exotic dancer. Eventually, she landed a job with Playboy TV and then Kick Ass pictures for films.
The first Mary-marketing method was to change her surname from Cook to Carey in 2002. The second was to enter the field of candidates trying to replace Gray Davis as California governor in the recall campaign in 2003. Before Mariah began using her “platform” phrase, Mary developed her platform on the issues:
It seems that the name recognition did help Mary’s popularity. Is there anything that can be done? Webster defines a trademark as “a word pointing distinctly to the origin or ownership of merchandise to which it is applied and legally reserved to the exclusive use of the owner as maker or seller”. Though "Mariah Carey" is a pre-existing trademark, it could be hard to prove Mary's "Mary Carey" mark as dilutive. Mariah’s attorney, Robert Baker is demanding that Mary Carey use her name only for adult entertainment and that she not be allowed to sing or perform music. You can see that there is a fine line between protecting property and impeding on liberties.
Mary would definitely be a challenge, being an advocate for free speech. During a live interview on The Daily Show she spoke about why she has never done a scene involving a particular sexual position, explaining that she has chronic gas problems. She then emancipated some gas.
What a lady.
Mary Carey is currently taking steps to trademark her self-applied name, which is more than similar to Mariah Carey’s birth-name. What’s the big deal you may ask? WorldNetDaily’s 2005 “Bimbo of the Year”, Mary Carey, is arguably the most popular of female porn stars behind Jenna Jameson. Now, she seeks to register the trademark for audio and video recordings, which is sure to cause confusion and conflict of interests. In October of this year, a lawyer for Mariah threatened legal action if the application was not withdrawn.
Mary Ellen Cook was born on June 15th, 1980 but changed her name to Mary Carey in an obvious attempt to bring publicity upon herself. She chose this particular name because (blind) people had commented that she resembled the beautiful singer. Mary tells Reuters, “I'm ready to battle Mariah over this because I've been Mary Carey for a long time.” Oh, contraire, lady of pleasure! Mary Cook changed her name to Mary Carey in 2002 just before the porn princess ran for California governor against Arnold Schwarzenegger. Strange? Mary Carey’s life has been a strange one up to this point.
She was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother and father who were both mentally handicapped. Her grandparents adopted her and raised her in Florida where her mother eventually moved in with them. Her grandfather died when she was 16 from cancer and her grandmother soon developed Parkinson’s disease. Mary was a ballet and dance student until 19 when she enrolled at Florida State and joined the dance team. Her grandmother’s condition grew worse and money was in short supply. Whether or not for that reason, Mary got a job as a model on an adult Internet site, which led her to being an exotic dancer. Eventually, she landed a job with Playboy TV and then Kick Ass pictures for films. The first Mary-marketing method was to change her surname from Cook to Carey in 2002. The second was to enter the field of candidates trying to replace Gray Davis as California governor in the recall campaign in 2003. Before Mariah began using her “platform” phrase, Mary developed her platform on the issues:
1) legalization of gay marriageI guess wives were not interested in state returns for their husbands’ strip club visits and UNICEF would turn down randy celebs. However, the campaign received extensive coverage in national media and the resulting eleven thousand votes were nothing to shake a stick at (no pun intended)!
2) taxation of breast implants
3) making lap dances a tax deductible business expense
4) wiring every room of the California Governor’s Mansion with Web cams
5) creation of a “Porn for Pistols” program to remove handguns from the streets
6) recruitment of adult industry performers as goodwill ambassadors
7) mandating jury duty for all Californians collecting unemployment
8) freeing the porn industry from harassment by the government
It seems that the name recognition did help Mary’s popularity. Is there anything that can be done? Webster defines a trademark as “a word pointing distinctly to the origin or ownership of merchandise to which it is applied and legally reserved to the exclusive use of the owner as maker or seller”. Though "Mariah Carey" is a pre-existing trademark, it could be hard to prove Mary's "Mary Carey" mark as dilutive. Mariah’s attorney, Robert Baker is demanding that Mary Carey use her name only for adult entertainment and that she not be allowed to sing or perform music. You can see that there is a fine line between protecting property and impeding on liberties.
Mary would definitely be a challenge, being an advocate for free speech. During a live interview on The Daily Show she spoke about why she has never done a scene involving a particular sexual position, explaining that she has chronic gas problems. She then emancipated some gas.
What a lady.
