You are here: Home / Microsoft / Microsoft sued over Windows Phone ads by maker of ‘novelty cellular abuse aids’

Microsoft sued over Windows Phone ads by maker of ‘novelty cellular abuse aids’

by 3 Comments

Over the years, Microsoft has been subject to plenty of claims that it copies other companies, but this one is definitely a first.

Microsoft and ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky have been sued over their Windows Phone 7 launch ads by the maker of Cell-R-Derm, a novelty cellular abuse aid. The product is a $13 gag gift that spoofs nicotine patches as a way of passive-aggressively informing friends or significant others that they’re using their mobile phones too much.

Adweek broke the news of the suit earlier today. Here’s a copy of the complaint: PDF, 12 pages.

At issue are the “Really?” ads for Windows Phone 7 that lampoon people who bury their heads in their mobile phones in such settings as the bathroom and the bedroom.

Cellrderm LLC, based in Boca Raton, Fla., alleges that Microsoft’s Windows Phone ads extensively copied Cellrderm’s (significantly lower-budget) ads for its own product. It’s claiming copyright infringement, seeking an injunction against further airing or distribution of the ads, and asking for unspecified monetary damages based on the profits the ads generated.

Here are the ads so you can judge for yourself below, at your own peril …

  • http://twitter.com/robertmclaws Robert McLaws

    It’s awesome that these guys think that anyone gave a crap enough to copy them, or that they have the market cornered on stories of people usingtheir cell phone in the bathroom. Sounds to me like a not-so-expensive way to get some visibility. Proving that their ads are where the idea came from is going to be tough. Hope they get smacked down, hard core.

  • http://twitter.com/AydinG Aydin Ghajar

    Pure publicity stunt.

  • http://www.appatic.com Avatar X

    As someone who almost ended up in advertising, did some ghost copy and knows a lot of people in advertising. Idea theft from copy guys is common as hell. I mean, i dated a girl who was a copy and she took ideas from some of my ghost copy stuff (for print ads) and made into actual video ads that aired in TV here.

    So yeah, i do believe them. The similitudes are too damn striking if condensed. And it would not be the first claim for C+B either. There are many, just not public ones.