Elvis Image Bans Shake, Rattle and Roll Las Vegas Chapels

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas chapels of affection that use Elvis Presley’s likeness might discover themselves turning into Heartbreak Resorts.

The licensing firm that controls the identify and picture of “The King” is ordering Sin Metropolis chapel operators to cease utilizing Elvis in themed ceremonies, the Las Vegas Assessment-Journal reported on Monday. Genuine Manufacturers Group despatched cease-and-desist letters earlier this month to a number of chapels, saying they need to comply by the top of Could.

With Elvis so intently tied to Vegas’ wedding ceremony business, some say the transfer might decimate their companies.

“We’re a family-run enterprise, and now we’re hanging with the massive canine,” mentioned Kayla Collins, who operates LasVegasElvisWeddingChapel.com and the Little Chapel of Hearts together with her husband. “That’s our bread and butter. I don’t get it. We had been simply hitting our stride once more by means of COVID, then this occurs.”

Clark County Clerk Lynn Goya, who led a advertising marketing campaign selling Las Vegas as a marriage vacation spot, mentioned the order for chapels to cease utilizing Elvis could not have come at a worse time for the sector.

Town’s wedding ceremony business generates $2 billion a 12 months and officers have Elvis-themed weddings characterize a big variety of the ceremonies carried out.

“It would destroy a portion of our wedding ceremony business. Various individuals may lose their livelihood,” Goya mentioned.

One chapel final weekend had its Elvis impersonator change costumes costume as an alternative in a leather-based jacket, denims and a fedora for a “rock ‘n’ roll” themed ceremony, the Assessment-Journal reported.

Graceland Marriage ceremony Chapel, which performs 6,400 Elvis-themed weddings per 12 months, has not been served a warning but, in response to supervisor Rod Musum.

Genuine Manufacturers Group didn’t instantly reply Tuesday to an emailed request for remark.

The licensing firm oversees the estates of huge names like film star Marilyn Monroe and boxer Muhammad Ali and 50 shopper manufacturers.

Within the cease-and-desist letter, the corporate mentioned it can halt unauthorized use of “Presley’s identify, likeness, voice picture, and different components of Elvis Presley’s persona in ads, merchandise and in any other case.” The letter additionally mentioned “Elvis, “Elvis Presley,” “and “The King of Rock and Roll” as protected logos.

The order mustn’t translate into authorized motion towards Elvis-theme stage exhibits in Las Vegas akin to “All Shook Up” as a result of impersonating somebody for a stay performances like exhibits is taken into account an exception beneath Nevada’s proper of publicity legislation, in response to Mark Tratos, a neighborhood lawyer who helped write the statute.

“An Elvis present is a performer basically entertaining others by re-creating that individual onstage,” Tratos mentioned.

Kent Ripley, whose enterprise is named Elvis Weddings, mentioned he has by no means run into this problem in 25 years of performing as Elvis.

“They wish to shield the Elvis model. However what are they defending by taking Elvis away from the general public?” Ripley requested.

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