LEGAL FILE
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Waits vs. Frito-Lay: An attorney for gravel-toned singer Tom Waits told jurors in U.S. District Court that Frito-Lay Inc. and its ad agency deliberately copied Waits’ unusual voice in a commercial for spicy corn chips. But a Frito-Lay attorney denied that Waits was imitated, although he said the voice in the commercial is “stylistically similar.” Waits is seeking at least $4 million in damages, claiming Frito-Lay allegedly pirated his voice. Waits is trying to win under a new legal ruling in California that compensation must be paid even for the imitation of a distinctive, well-known singing voice.
