Creator of 'Honey Badger Don't Care' brand sues for trademark infringement

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Christopher Gordon, the creator of the viral video "The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger," sued two t-shirt companies for copyright infringement on merchandise.

In 2011, Gordon dubbed National Geographic footage of a honey badger in the wild with his own amusing story in a clip that quickly went viral. He then copyrighted the narration and the memed phrase "Honey Badger Don't Care." Gordon is now suing Tanga.com and LOL Shirts for illegally using the phrase on their merchandise.

"Defendants not only sold infringing merchandise, but strategically chose to advertise their infringing merchandise by using plaintiff's video, which was generating millions of views," the complaint states. "Defendants even provided a website link to plaintiff's video, right alongside their advertisements of infringing merchandise, causing customer confusion and ramping up unlawful sales in the process."

Gordon claimed he asked them to stop marketing the merchandise and disclose the profit reports from the sales, which the companies agreed to do "only after generating substantial sales" and "after sales of the infringing merchandise began declining."

Gordon sued the companies for trademark infringement, copyright infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition under federal and California law.