Oprah Settles Suit With MonaVie
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Oprah Winfrey has agreed to settle a lawsuit involving MonaVie and 456 Health Systems, both accused of using her name to promote their products without consent. Monavie was mistakenly included in the lawsuit filed against over 50 companies by Oprah Winfrey and her colleague Mehmet Oz, a doctor who appears frequently on her show.
The lawsuit was filed in August 2009 when the accused used their names and images without permission in order to promote products. The suit alleged that when Oz made an appearance as a guest on the show, the defending companies started marketing products using Oprah and Oz as endorsements.
Graden Jackson, a company counsel for Monavie explained that the company was mistakenly included in the lawsuit and that it has been officially settled. While several company's distributors engaged in using images of Oprah and Oz, Monavie was not among them.
"It was a very amicable settlement," according to Jackson.
According to Marc Rachman, Oprah's attorney, many of the allegations were able to be settled amicably, and that they had hoped to settle the rest.
"They are done, without admitting liability, but everyone is agreeing to some type of stipulation to not use Oprah and Dr. Oz's names, image and trademarks going forward," said Rachman.