50 Cent takes Taco Bell to court

Rapper 50 Cent, sued Taco Bell Corp. for supposedly using his name, persona and trademarks in a nationwide advertising campaign without his permission. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, alleges Taco Bell drafted a fake letter it supposed asks Jackson to change his name to "79 Cent," "89 Cent" or "99 Cent" in order to publicize its "79-89-99 Cent Why Pay More Value Menu."

The restaurant chain allegedly released the letter to the national press in June before sending it to Curtis Jackson (which by the way is his real name). "Thus, without authorization, Taco Bell traded on the name of the world's biggest hip-hop star to draw attention to its new hip-hop-based advertising campaign, and thereby generated massive publicity for its business". And this was all done for tree and now this lawsuit is giving them more free publicity. He is looking for more than $1 million in damages!

"We made a good-faith, charitable offer to 50 Cent to change his name to either 79, 89 or 99 Cent for one day by rapping his order at a Taco Bell, and we would have been very pleased to make the $10,000 donation to the charity of his choice," said Rob Poetsch, a Taco Bell spokesman. So just think of how much money they have mad, if they are willing to give $10,000 donation, now that was a good scheme.