The Naked Cowboy, a fixture of New York's Times Square who plays guitar in his underwear, chewed out M&M's on Wednesday after a judge allowed his trademark infringement lawsuit against the sweets maker to proceed.Robert Burck, 37, a guitar-playing cowboy dressed only in a pair of underpants, white boots and a Stetson hat, has sued Mars Inc for millions of dollars for dressing an animated blue M&M with a remarkably similar outfit.District Court Judge Denny Chin rejected Burck's privacy claim, saying the law protected the name portrait or picture of a "living person", not a character created or a role played by a living person.But Chin allowed the false endorsement claim to proceed, ruling that ``he plausibly alleges that consumers seeing defendants' advertisements would conclude - incorrectly - that he had endorsed M&M candy.''The blond-haired cowboy, who works out every day to maintain his muscular frame, said he would never endorse the colourful candy."When they dressed up the M&M to personify the Naked Cowboy, they implied that I was endorsing their product," he told NBC television."Type II diabetes and childhood obesity is (an) epidemic," he said. "I am the opposite of that. I don't endorse that product." SOURCE:SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
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