The licensing company that controls the image and likeness of ‘The King’ is cracking down on Las Vegas chapels that book Elvis-themed weddings and otherwise embrace his persona, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which licenses Elvis Presley-related merchandise, has issued a cease-and-desist letter dated May to several Las Vegas chapels.
ABG intends to stop the unauthorised use of “Elvis Presley’s name, likeness, voice image, and other elements of Elvis Presley’s persona in advertisements, merchandise, and otherwise”.
ABG specifies the terms ‘Elvis’, ‘Elvis Presley’, and ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ as its protected trademarks.
Businesses targeted include chapels that specialise in, or offer, Elvis ceremonies or have Elvis’s image as part of their name and logo. These chapels have just begun to recover from the COVID shutdown and a loss of nearly two years of business.
Las Vegas’s wedding industry generates US$2bn (R30,8bn) a year, and officials say Elvis-themed weddings represent a significant number of the ceremonies performed, according to Travel Weekly.
But it appears that the chapels and ABG could reach a financial licensing arrangement to continue business as usual.
ABG’s action comes just before the release of the much-hyped Baz Luhrmann bio-pic Elvis on June 24. The film is certain to regenerate interest in Presley’s career, especially the opportunity to be married in Vegas by an Elvis impersonator.
