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'Aunt Jemima's' heirs sue product makers for $2 billion
wgal news 8 ^ | 8-11-2014 | Patrick M. Sheridan

Posted on 08/11/2014 12:43:32 PM PDT by Citizen Zed

The great-grandsons of a woman who depicted "Aunt Jemima" want $2 billion from the companies whose pancake products bear her name.

The two men accuse Quaker Oats, Quaker's parent company PepsiCo and Pinnacle Foods of theft of royalties, fraud and racial discrimination.

Quaker Oats is the maker of Aunt Jemima pancake mixes and syrup. Pinnacle Foods currently makes Aunt Jemima frozen pancakes, waffles and French toast.

In their suit, D.W. Hunter and Larnell Evans say Quaker Oats representatives discovered their great-grandmother making pancakes at the New York State Fair in 1935. Anna S. Harrington portrayed the character in commercials and other public appearances for 15 years.

The suit says Quaker used Harrington's pancake recipes and trademarked her likeness as the character "Aunt Jemima" in 1937.

The great-grandsons say Quaker exploited Harrington with the intent of not paying royalties toward her estate after her death in 1955. They claim the companies conspired not to acknowledge Harrington's status as an employee of Quaker Oats by saying they could not find any employment records or images of her. But they say, Quaker had her image deposited with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

(Excerpt) Read more at m.wgal.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
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To: Citizen Zed

was there even such a thing as ‘royalties’ in the 50’s?


61 posted on 08/11/2014 1:20:24 PM PDT by blueplum
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To: 1rudeboy
I won’t comment because I like pancakes.

I won't comment because I still remember that Sambo's pancakes were really good. We had a restaurant about 3 blocks from home as the crow flies.

62 posted on 08/11/2014 1:20:56 PM PDT by publius911 ( Politicians come and go... but the (union) bureaucracy lives and grows forever.)
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To: Elsie
Looks like Elsie has a case.


63 posted on 08/11/2014 1:21:28 PM PDT by Utah Binger (Southern Utah where the world comes to see America)
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To: OneWingedShark

I do not disagree with you on that.

But, if Elvis Presley’s grand children can live off a dead man, these people should able to live off their dead great grandmother.

That is assuming that the old lady did not sign away the right to her likeness. But even if she did, Quaker will likely be writing a check.


64 posted on 08/11/2014 1:21:44 PM PDT by Oliviaforever
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To: Resolute Conservative
Is the “Light” Crust Doughboys racist?

No, but it offends the weight challenged big time!

65 posted on 08/11/2014 1:22:16 PM PDT by publius911 ( Politicians come and go... but the (union) bureaucracy lives and grows forever.)
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To: Citizen Zed

I won’t comment because I haven’t read the court documents yet so I don’t know the legal merits.

Call me old-fashioned.


66 posted on 08/11/2014 1:22:37 PM PDT by Usagi_yo (I don't have a soul, I'm a soul that has a body. -- Unknown)
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To: Little Ray

Do you think the attorneys will end up with most of the money?


67 posted on 08/11/2014 1:23:09 PM PDT by Bitsy
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To: Citizen Zed
Brings a song to mind:

Original Electric Aunt Jemima

Acapello version by The Persuasions.

68 posted on 08/11/2014 1:23:14 PM PDT by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: fwdude

Think of whip cracker, not soup cracker when you hear that racial slur being used.


69 posted on 08/11/2014 1:23:30 PM PDT by Sawdring
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To: All

1. Statute of Limitations

2. What does the contract say?

3. Seems this is like “betty crocker”

4. Where are the sanctions against the law firms with these “victory through embarrassment” suits?


70 posted on 08/11/2014 1:23:35 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Citizen Zed


Ione Brown, at age 47, is featured in a northern Minnesota newspaper, the Park Region Echo in 1950. Brown is the maternal grandmother of NPR's Michele Norris, co-host of All Things Considered. In an upcoming interview with host Michel Martin, Norris shares her family's complex history with matters of race, as chronicled in her new memoir The Grace of Silence..

71 posted on 08/11/2014 1:23:40 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Citizen Zed

Are they kidding? It’s a generic picture. All mammies look alike to me. To quote Hillary: “What difference does it make?”


72 posted on 08/11/2014 1:24:14 PM PDT by TexasRepublic (went all-out Socialism is the gospel of envy and the religion of thieves)
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To: molson209

Holder is still there
I can’t wait to see the weasel go.


73 posted on 08/11/2014 1:24:44 PM PDT by Bitsy
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To: Citizen Zed
The great-grandsons say Quaker exploited Harrington with the intent of not paying royalties toward her estate after her death in 1955.

And they just noticed today? Isn't there a concept in law where you have to act quickly to reconcile an offense rather than letting it fester in order to build up the bill? I know in patent law when we discovered another company infringing on our patents we had to notify them as soon as we found out or risked losing any penalties for infringement. Waiting nearly 60 years should be enough to get the case tossed out.

74 posted on 08/11/2014 1:24:50 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (The IRS: either criminally irresponsible in backup procedures or criminally responsible of coverup.)
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To: Oliviaforever

they have a serious statute of limitations problem.

The product name can be changed and they are sol.


75 posted on 08/11/2014 1:27:13 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Cicero

Pay for doing commercials in the 50s isn’t comparable to later years. She probably got a pittance. Now, if they used her recipe and had a contract, the company should be OK, if not, there’s probably a good settlement in store for those young men and other relatives. Quaker Oats (and other publicly traded, consumer oriented companies) can’t take too much bad publicity.


76 posted on 08/11/2014 1:28:12 PM PDT by EDINVA
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To: Citizen Zed

Chuckling...reparations yeah.

77 posted on 08/11/2014 1:28:42 PM PDT by eldoradude (It doesn't matter how many it takes, the lightbulb has already been stolen.)
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To: Citizen Zed

78 posted on 08/11/2014 1:28:43 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Oliviaforever
My guess is that most of the posters on this thread would be singing a different tune if their grandmother’s likeness were used by a corporation to make billions of dollars.

And then there was Milton Sirotta, aged 9, who coined a word for the number 1 with a hundred zeros after it.

Screw 'em all!

79 posted on 08/11/2014 1:28:46 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Citizen Zed
I hear that the renowned private investigator Remington Steele in on the case as we speak.

Is this a case of someone claiming to be the "real" incarnation of what was a fictionalized character, and then demanding money as the "heir?"

-PJ

80 posted on 08/11/2014 1:28:54 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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