Scary Terry Rozier Gets Hit With A Lawsuit From Creator Of The Scream Mask
Boston Celtics guard Terry Rozier has been sued by the creator of the famous ghost face mask for copyright and trademark infringement. The Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, is centered around Rozier adopting the ghost face mask design as his own mascot and pairing it with his alter ego “Scary Terry.”
Rozier has actually created a business surrounding the Scary Terry nickname. In fact, on July 20, Rozier filed a trademark application for “Scary Terry” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That application is pending, with the examining attorney assigned by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office having submitted an Office Action that has yet to be responded to by Rozier.
In the meantime, Rozier must respond to the lawsuit that was filed against him by Eastern Unlimited, Inc. d/b/a Fun World, which describes itself as a manufacturer and marketer of products for Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas and patriotic occasions. Its ghost face mask design was largely popularized by the movie “Scream” and its various sequels.
“As a result of the Scream movies, Plaintiff’s Ghost Face Mask has become widely famous and remains a popular Halloween costume mask,” states the Complaint. It indicates that the plaintiff has two registered copyrights and two registered trademarks (“Ghost Face” as a word mark and design mark) associated with the mask.
A complication for Rozier will be that his management team previously published an article that actually states that the company created a shirt that “displayed a cartoon version of Rozier wearing a Scream mask.” That would basically serve as an admission that the Scream mask, created by the plaintiff, was duplicated by Rozier and his team and used as a major element in products that have been sold in commerce.
The Complaint goes on to highlight Rozier purportedly telling his management team, “We need to get the Scream mask on there,” referring to the products that were being sold. The Scary Terry products have been sold by Barstool Sports, Teespring, Etsy, Amazon and other retailers.
The plaintiff is seeking up to $150,000 per copyright infringement and up to $1 million for each mark allegedly counterfeited.
