We were pretty fascinated by the "Bee-Otch" air freshener back when we saw it hanging from Bumblebee's rear-view mirror in Transformers a few months back. We were so enthralled and amused we even tried to figure out how we too could own our very own li'l "Bee-Otch" air freshener. Well, it looks like there's now a bit of a legal tussle over the adorable little hang tag. Here's the story from the NY Post:
" Producers of the summer hit allegedly ripped off a Brooklyn woman's popular copyrighted design of an angry bee for a sight gag in the flick.
In papers filed in Brooklyn federal court, Alia Madden says the only big difference between her "Bee-otch" air freshener and the one in the film is the deletion of her copyright notice.
"Now she tries to sell her work, which had been a consistent seller, and people think she's ripping off 'Transformers,' " said lawyer Daniel Abraham.
Madden came up with the design for a bee over the word "Bee-otch" back in 2002, and licensed it out for use on air fresheners, mugs and shirts.
In June, she attended a merchandisers convention at the Javits Center and was stunned to see it being displayed on air fresheners in the "Transformers" booth."
Well, looks like we won't be getting our own "Bee-Otch" anytime soon — thanks to those sneaky Transformers producers. Man, they're like Decepticons, those guys. (Big tip of the hat to Bumblebee!) [NY Post]