Naked Cowboy Wants a Cut of Naked Cowgirl's Action

Comedian and former stripper, Sandy Kane thought she might give Times Square a holler and try her hand at busking, but how she chose to go about seems to have landed her in a passel of trouble with another long-time Times Square fixture, The Naked Cowboy.

The NY Post reports that The Naked Cowboy, whose real name is Robert Burck, has threatened to take Sandy to court and sue her for at least $150,000 unless she stops showing up in cowgirl garb and calling herself "The Naked Cowgirl."

"Your use of Naked Cowgirl is essentially identical to the Naked Cowboy and is clearly in violation of Burck's trademark," is the statement made to Sandy in a cease and desist letter on behalf of the 39-year -old Burck.

Sandy was already known in her former strip act for setting her breasts on fire at the end of her routine, she then progressed to comedy and for the last 3 years has been busking in Times Square in the well-known red, white and blue paraphernalia, which in her version consists of a bikini and cowboy hat.

According to Burck and his manager, Todd Rubenstein, there already is a Naked Cowgirl and she is a licensed franchisee of the "Naked Cowboy Franchise Agreement."

Burck says Sandy needs to sign a franchise agreement "If she's going to sell stuff and make money off of it .... "

According to the cowboy and his manager, anyone who wants to imitate the Naked Cowboy has to shell out $5,000 a year or $500 a month. They are willing, however, to negotiate that price with Sandy.

Sandy Kane isn't in a negotiating mood and the New Jersey woman, who is in her 50s, says she isn't selling any products. She's only making $2 a picture, she claims, and even offered to sing a duet with the Naked Cowboy, but he wouldn't do it unless she signed the franchise agreement. Sandy then recorded the song with another guy she simply called "The Cowboy." That's why, after 3 years, the Naked Cowboy decided to take action.

Sandy says nobody is going to get rich off the song, but it looks like the Naked Cowboy wants to get a piece of the profits just in case it does reap any decent profits. Maybe the Naked Cowboy should settle for a percentage while he still can.

All Sandy really has to do is get a little more creative with her choice of names and call herself something like Straight Shootin' Sandy, or instead of dressing up like a cowgirl, she could get herself a Halloween costume and call herself Sandy the Singing Squaw. Then she won't be violating the Naked Cowboy's trademark and he'll just have to deal with it.

Source: NY Post: Cowboy 'Naked' Ripoff (6/22/10)