News in Brief: Naked Cowboy Sues

Robert Burck has made his living for the last several years by giving live guitar shows in Times Square - in nearly nothing at all.

Calling himself 'The Naked Cowboy', his trademark attire is a pair of western-style boots and a cowboy hat, with nothing in between but a pair of tidy whities (due to public nudity laws). He even carries a white guitar to complete the look.

He's become something of a celebrity in recent years, with several television appearances, including one audition for American Idol.

And now the cowboy is all riled up.

He's suing Mars Incorporated, the company that makes M&Ms candies, for $6.5 million, claiming that they stole his look for a Times Square billboard.

The ad in question bears a blue personification of the chocolate treats in a remarkably similar outfit to the cowboy's, right down to the white guitar.

However, the ad was designed by a firm in Ohio, so it may be that the creators were ignorant of the Cowboy's "brand image."

New Yorkers declined comment when asked if Burck also melts in your mouth, but not in your hand.