American Idol vs. Stripper Idol

Take a look at that strip club ad to the right. Does it make you think Fox's American Idol is actually sponsoring the search for "Austin's favorite amateur dancer"? Yeah, me neither, but FremantleMedia North America -- the corporation that owns American Idol -- thinks people might actually make that mistake. That's why they're suing Austin's Palazio Men's Club in federal court.

FremantleMedia says the "Stripper Idol" exotic dancing contest is a trademark violation that could mislead the public to believe that the hit show is behind the event. FremantleMedia -- a corporation so huge that it probably serves edible gold as hors d'oeuvres at company parties -- not only wants to stop "Stripper Idol," but it also wants to seize Palazio's profits from the contest.

The best part of this story is that the Palazio club managers thought the lawsuit was a joke. They argue that "Stripper idol" is nothing like American Idol. Instead of awarding record deals to people who massacre beloved pop songs, the club gives away $500 to the amateur stripper who can best shake that ass.

According to "Kinky" Kelly Jones, a club manager and the host of "Stripper Idol" (I guess that makes him the strip club version of Ryan Seacrest!), FremantleMedia can't claim the word "idol."

"It's shocking. We're just a local company, it's not like we're some big threat," club operations manager Scott Stevenson said.

I tend to agree, and Palazio has no plans to stop the contest.

I'm not a big fan of strip clubs, but this sounds like another case of a giant corporation using its power and influence to blot out the little guy. Palazio probably should have known better (come on, we all know the people behind American Idol are evil Montgomery Burns types, right?), but do they deserve to lose all of their profit from the contest?