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Mariah Carey Sues Porn Star

Porn star Mary Carey has been making adult movies since 2002, and used her stage name while running a gimmicky gubernatorial campaign in California (eventually losing to Arnold Schwarzenegger). But when she filed trademark papers for her name earlier this year, Grammy-winning pop diva Mariah Carey decided that she'd seen enough, and sent her legal team to block the trademark. The reason? It seems that Mary Carey was looking to tread on Mariah's turf: audio recordings.

"Mary Carey and Mariah Carey share the identical surname and have first names that are very similar," said Mariah's attorney, Robert Becker. "Confusion between your client and her Mary Carey trademark and our client and its Mariah Carey trademark is therefore likely."

Just to clarify, Mariah's spokeswoman, Leslie Sloane-Zelnik, added, "Mariah Carey has no affiliation with Mary Carey." Mariah and her team are threatening legal action if Mary Carey (real name Mary Cook) continues to seek her trademark. But the Cheerleader School actress and her attorney, David Beitchman, didn't seem too concerned.

"My first thought was, does Mariah Carey realize what her lawyer is comparing her to and are they seriously concerned?" Beitchman said. "Do they seriously think the fans are going to be confused?"

"It's kind of funny because I'm a porn star and I've been myself for a long time," Mary Carey said. "I think she's being silly."

But according to her rather revelatory Wikipedia profile, Mary Carey's stage name is indeed due to her "passing resemblance" to Miss Mariah.

--The ARTISTdirect Staff
12.11.06