By: SoundSlam
Published: Sep. 29, 2005 - Atlanta, GA

On Monday, September 26th, the inescapable rap producer, Lil’ Jon, headed to the Atlanta Federal Court to file a lawsuit against Larry Flynt, the infamous owner of the adult magazine, Hustler. The situation involves Larry Flynt Productions arranging and producing an adult DVD that uses an unauthorized image of Lil’ Jon as a marketing tool.

The filed lawsuit alleges that Larry Flynt Productions (LFP) received on-stage and backstage promotional video footage from another company, Category 5, which in February 2004 had shot a Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz concert, legitimately, in New Orleans. The suit wraps Category 5 up in the lawsuit as well since that particular production company made no attempts to clear the usage of Lil’ Jon’s name and likeness for the LFP-released porno with Jon’s record label, TVT Records. A $75,000 dollar claim was set against Category 5, alone.

LFP then used that illicit footage for a February 2005 issued film, Phat Tuesday. Lil’ Jon is establishing the claim that he would not receive revenue or royalties for the project on the illegal terms of false advertising, breach of contract, infringement of right to publicity and appropriation of name and likeness. The hit producer also stated that his image and name are “valuable commodities, with significant secondary meaning and goodwill attached to them” and that the goodwill has been “tarnished significantly by being linked improperly to Hustler and Larry Flynt.”

According to Lil’ Jon, born name Jonathan Smith, he also stated that Phat Tuesday “glutted the market” and would therefore prevent him from releasing his own project in the same vein. Apparently, the mega-star already had plans in the works to release a DVD entitled Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz Vivid Vegas Party later this year through the porn conglomerate, Vivid Video. Additionally, a follow-up DVD for 2006 was planned, as well, with the expected title to be Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz Nightclubbin’.

The filed suit estimates that, according to Jonathan Smith, the lost goodwill “is not less than $30 million.” Check back to SoundSlam.com for updates on this Lil’ Jon story and more.