THE BATTLE FOR BETTIE PAGE

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The late 1950s pin-up queen Bettie Page‘s trademark infringed, her estate charges, in Federal Court.

The brunette banged cutie’s legal heirs, The Bettie Page Trust, claims Stockingirl.com and Edward Miccinati are violating the men’s mag centerfold queen ‘s trademark by selling the "Bettie Leopard Print Bra" and "The Bettie Six Strap Garter Belt," in Indianapolis Federal Court.

According to legal docs obtained exclusively by The ENQUIRER,  the suit states that Bettie Page Trust aka BPT  is the "exclusive owner of the name, likeness, voice, right of publicity, trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property …of the late internationally recognized "Pin Up Queen" Bettie Page) and is slamming the Miccinati and Stockingirl.com  for using Bettie’s likeness for the on-line sex apparel.

Since Bettie became re-famous after leading a life of tortured seclusion when artist Dave Stevens used her as the model for a character in The Rocketeer, Page’s image has been everywhere and was recently the subject of a biopic The Notorious Bettie Page before she died in 2008.

A legal insider told The ENQUIRER exclusively that this may be the opening salvo by the Bettie Page Trust to reclaim all things Bettie that have been used worldwide in fan art, products and videos.

Since many of the copyright holders like men’s mags Wink and Titter  are long out of business and the photographers long dead, it’s unclear how far the Trust will go to penalize unauthorized users.

In recent years, long dead celebs like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Bela Lugosi  and Humphrey Bogart  have legally risen from the grave  to protect trademarked imagery.

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