CHICKASHA – A bit of a ruckus was generated on social media here last week over a letter alleging the iconic “leg lamp” statue downtown violates trademark and copyright laws.
The letter was issued almost four months ago, on Oct. 2, 2024, by Markel Service Inc., claim service manager for Evanston Insurance Co., which issued commercial general liability insurance policies to Communities Foundation of Oklahoma d/b/a Chickasha Community Foundation.
Evanston “is [in] receipt of Turner Entertainment Co. and Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. notice of claim alleging trademark and copyright infringement.
The letter advised that Evanston “reserves the right to investigate this matter and disclaim coverage for any damages that are not covered” under the insurance policies previously mentioned.
“Based upon a review of the loss notice and information” provided in correspondence dated July 17, 2024, “Warner Brothers is alleging that CCF has utilized derivative copies of props and trademarks” from the 1983 film “A Christmas Story” – specifically the “Leg Lamp” statue.
Warner Brothers also alleges that CCF “utilizes the Leg Lamp and other Warner Brothers trademarks (i.e., the WB shield) in … merchandise sold at the gift shop…” That claim appears to be spurious, since the gift shop sells merchandise that’s officially licensed by Warner Brothers.
WB “has provided a copy of their Jan. 7, 2019, correspondence denying CCF’s request for licenses to use the ‘Leg Lamp.’ Warner Brothers claims CCF built the structure over their objections and asserts claims under the Lanham Act for trademark and infringement” and “demands that the structure be removed and destroyed.”
The 50-foot-tall statue is located adjacent to the train depot downtown.
The statue is an identical copy of the lamp in the film: a long, slender leg in fishnet stocking and black high heel, supporting a lampshade trimmed in fringe and standing atop a wooden crate imprinted with the word “Fragile” (or, as the late Darren McGavin pronounced it, “fra-jee-lay”).
The 40-foot-tall lamp stands atop a 10-foot-tall crate and was constructed out of fiberglass by Midwest Cooling Towers.
The grand opening of the sculpture was held on Nov. 5, 2022, and the statue is on display year-round.
Last year the leg lamp statue attracted more than 51,000 visitors, many of whom returned to the site at least once more, and spent an average of 37 minutes each time, data provided by Placer Labs software indicated. Chickasha’s leg lamp has been visited by more than 95,500 Americans from 46 states and the District of Columbia.
The leg lamp statue is what attracted California businessman Chet Hitt to Chickasha two years ago.
Hitt said he first visited Chickasha in late 2022 when he returned to Oklahoma to attend the 40th reunion of his Anadarko High School graduating class. “I was just driving through town and thought I might find an opportunity here.” The iconic leg lamp statue was “a selling point” for him.
Hitt, who has lived in Apple Valley, California, for more than 50 years, told the Chickasha City Council in December 2022 that he proposed to invest as much as $5 million in development of several businesses in Chickasha.
He has honored that pledge, having spent more than $3 million in renovating multiple buildings downtown. And last month the Chickasha Municipal Airport Authority voted to sell an undeveloped half-section of land near the airport to “OH HITT Corp.” for $1,578,000 – the appraised market value of the property. For several years that acreage has been leased for $400 per year for agriculture.
Jim Cowan, president of the Chickasha Economic Development Council, said construction of the statue, renovation of the nearby visitor center building and mercantile store, plus landscaping and an irrigation system, cost $1.4 million. The CEDC donated $25,000 and the balance came from donations.
Chickasha officials “consulted with a trademark attorney” before proceeding with construction of the leg lamp statue, Cowan said. In fact, “I talked to our attorney again today,” he told Southwest Ledger on Jan. 23.
The Chickasha Community Foundation does not charge a fee to view the lamp and visit the site, and the CCF is a nonprofit organization, Cowan also said. The CCF maintains the site. “They have a parttime employee who picks up the trash and makes sure the lights are on at night, and a landscape service mows and takes care of the flowers.”
No state, federal lawsuits filed over ‘leg lamp’ “As a board member of the Chickasha Community Foundation, we are not aware of any legal action against the CCF,” Cowan wrote in statement he delivered to the Ledger and posted on CHICKASHA, ‘Politically Speaking’ Facebook page.
Neither Warner Brothers Entertainment nor Turner Entertainment has filed any litigation in Grady County nor any other district court in this state, a Ledger search of the Oklahoma State Courts Network found.
A Ledger search last Thursday of PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), the official website for tracking cases filed in U.S. district, appellate, and bankruptcy courts, found 44 cases filed between 2005 and 2024 involving Warner Brothers Entertainment, and 88 cases involving Turner Entertainment filed between 1990 and 2020. None of those cases involved any lawsuit filed against the Communities Foundation of Oklahoma, the Chickasha Community Foundation, the Chickasha Municipal Authority, nor the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
City Manager Jim Crosby told the Ledger, “We really don’t have a dog in the fight. The land – almost six-tenths of an acre – was donated by the Chickasha Municipal Authority to the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma on Nov. 1, 2021. The city deeded that land to the college for an art plaza, and what they put on it may be subleased to the Chickasha Community Foundation.”
The City of Chickasha “doesn’t own that land,” Crosby said. “If we don’t own it, we can’t control it.”