She is one of the most powerful people on the planet. She is beloved. She is admired. She, in this case, is Oprah Winfrey.
There's always something newsworthy going on Winfrey's life, it seems. Why just last week, she was being sued for $1 trillion dollars by an author who claimed Winfrey had plagiarized him -- but before the country could digest this news, a judge dismissed it. This week, the latest news is again court-related: a lawsuit that Oprah's company, Harpo Inc., initiated Wednesday, against at least 50 businesses. It's a joint lawsuit with her frequent TV guest, Dr. Mehmet Oz, saying that their names have been used to falsely endorse numerous beauty products and dietary supplements, from tooth whitening products to colon cleansers.
The lawsuit says, in part, "These defendants are willfully capitalizing on plaintiff's valuable reputation and intellectual property rights to lure consumers into ordering their infringing products on the false premise that they have been tested or recommended by Ms. Winfrey and/or Dr. Oz when they have not."
The lawsuit also said that these product endorsement claims have "gravely injured" their reputations.
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Dr. Oz, maybe his reputation has been gravely injured. He would know better than I. Winfrey? I think not. Not yet, anyway. I mean this as a compliment, but my guess is that she could probably go into an assisted living facility and scream at, and insult, the residents and leave with the general public concluding that those old folks must have had it coming.
Still, one can understand why Winfrey wouldn't want to be associated with spam advertising colon cleanser any more than a fisherman in a steam would want leeches to be crawling on him. And if her legal team wasn’t looking out for her, arguably, these product endorsement claims could eventually have a serious negative impact -- the death by a thousand cuts theory.
Or maybe it would take 10,000 cuts. After all, this is a woman who just made (as expected) Forbes annual most powerful women list (at No. 41, out of 100, one spot behind First Lady Michelle Obama; German Chancellor Angela Merkel made #1). Her show, in its 24th year, is still going strong and grabbing giant interviews, nabbing Whitney Houston (her first interview in seven years) for the start of the talk show's new season this September 14. There seems to be no evidence that she is any less respected than she ever was.
In any case, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in court. One can't help but root for Oprah, or at least I admit that I am. If she can strike a blow against some of these companies, maybe junk email clogging up our inboxes will be a bit more diminished. Because if Oprah can't vanquish companies that send spam, then what hope do the rest of us have?
Geoff Williams is a business and personal finance writer, frequently writing for AOL Small Business, WalletPop.com and publications like Entrepreneur magazine. He also is the author of C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America (Rodale).
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