Hot stuff for the LA courts

Jim Davies, Miri Frankel, Simon Haslam -- these are just a few of the IPKat's friends to have sent him news of the altercation between the US band Red Hot Chili Peppers and Showtime over the use of the word Californication -- this being the name of the band's 1999 album and a hit single.

The band alleges unfair competition, dilution of the value of the name and unjust enrichment, claiming that the title is "inherently distinctive, famous ... and immediately associated in the mind of the consumer" with the band. Injunctive relief is sought in a Los Angeles court against the broadcasting of Showtime's TV series of the same name, as well as an account of profits.

The television series stars David Duchovny as a novelist suffering from writers' block and a mid-life crisis, together with a character named Dani California -- coincidentally the title of another Red Hot Chili Peppers song released in 2006.

The IPKat suspects that it won't be difficult to monitor the progress of this action, what with so many of his friends giving him a welcome hand!

Watch Dani California live here
California Dreamin here (nostalgia trip for those who remember when hit songs could be 2min 28 secs long and you could understand the words)
Chili recipes here
Chili pepper and arthritis, cancer and obesity