Fast food chain Taco Bell has settled a 2008 copyright infringement lawsuit brought on by rap star 50 Cent who claimed the franchise used his name in promotions without his permission.
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50’s suit claimed that the Mexican-themed chain’s 79-89-99 Cent Why Pay More ad campaign, which promotes items for under a dollar, suggested he was endorsing the company’s product and was “diluting the value of his good name” by using it in conjunction with their promotion.
In June 2008 Taco Bell executives published an open letter in newspapers to the rapper offering to donate $10,000 to a charity of his choosing if he agreed to change his name for one day to coincide with the promotion, visit one of the chain’s restaurants and rap his order at the drive-thru window – using a new moniker: 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent.
The marketing stunt resulted in 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson, filing a $4 million dollar lawsuit against Taco Bell a month later.
The amount of the settlement, reached between the two parties on Monday (Nov. 23), remains confidential.
