By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
Elvis might not be leaving the building, but he is leaving the chapel, leaving Las Vegas’ billion dollar wedding business all shook up.
Authentic Brands Group warned Las Vegas chapels of legal action should they continue holding Elvis-themed weddings.
“This couldn’t hit at a worse time; it’s not a good thing,” said Clark County Clerk Lynn Goya, who runs the Las Vegas wedding marketing campaign. “It might destroy a portion of our wedding industry. A number of people might lose their livelihood.”
The blow to themed weddings in Las Vegas came directly from Authentic Brands Group, which bought the rights to the Elvis Presley estate in 2013. On May 19, ABG issued a cease-and-desist letter to several Las Vegas chapels, warning them of potential legal action if they continued to hold Elvis-themed ceremonies.
ABG specifies in the letter that it holds trademarks for “Elvis,” “Elvis Presley,” “and “The King of Rock and Roll.” The company said it intends to stop the unauthorized use of Elvis Presley’s name, likeness, voice image, and other elements of Elvis Presley’s persona in advertisements, merchandise, and otherwise.”
The story first broke in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, sending the entire Las Vegas wedding industry into full freak out mode.
“This could be very damaging to our industry,” said Melody Willis-Williams, president of Vegas Weddings and Viva Las Vegas Weddings. “Most of us are small businesses, and we’re up against a superpower with a lot of money. It could kill us in lawyer fees to fight this.”
While the issue may primarily affect small businesses in the form of individual chapels, collectively the legal threat is a big deal for the entire community in Las Vegas. The Vegas wedding industry generates $2 billion a year and officials say Elvis-themed weddings represent a “significant number” of ceremonies performed. In fact, Elvis-themed weddings are believed to outnumber all other themed weddings combined.
But the issue is also a major one for ABG, which is currently experiencing a surge in popularity for the Elvis estate.
ABG represents a wide portfolio of celebrities and celebrity estates, including icons like Muhammad Ali and Marilyn Monroe. Recently the company has announced expansions of its licensing activities for the Elvis Presley brand, including a metaverse project called Elvis on Chain, and a global music deal with Universal Music Group.
As well, the upcoming Baz Luhrman biopic Elvis is widely expected to generate a lot more interest in The King, and ABG is not surprisingly locking down the leaks in its IP portfolio.
ABG is a licensing company that manages the estates of Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali, and its holdings also include about 50 consumer brands, most of them household names. Former basketball star Shaquille O’Neal is among its leading shareholders.
The multibillion dollar company is considered one of the world’s largest and most powerful licensing firms, and it holds a huge amount of legal and financial clout.
The ABG letter states that if an “infringing chapel” does not comply with the terms of the document within a week, the company’s counsel would advise seeking legal action. That date would have been May 27, or last Friday, coincidentally when the global licensing industry was meeting in Las Vegas for the annual Licensing Expo.
Thus far we have not heard of any chapels being sued or directly threatened with legal action, other than the cease-and-desist letter.
The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that one chapel last weekend had its Elvis impersonator change into a leather jacket, jeans and a fedora for a “rock’n’roll” ceremony. It also said the Graceland Wedding Chapel, which performs 6,400 Elvis-themed weddings a year, had not been served a warning yet, according to its manager, Rod Musum.
However, businesses targeted to date typically include those that either specialize in Elvis ceremonies, or use his name and image as part of their own company name and logo. Those include chapels like Viva Las Vegas/Vegas Weddings, the Elvis Chapel, Elvis Weddings and Las Vegas Elvis Chapel.
Like all of the other chapels in Vegas, these businesses are just beginning to recover from financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is not yet clear is whether ABG is open to licensing deals with the Las Vegas chapels, so they can continue holding Elvis-themed weddings in exchange for a licensing fee.
In the meantime, some critics like Willis-Williams say ABG’s legal move could backfire and potentially damage the Elvis brand.
“Elvis weddings are synonymous with Las Vegas,” Willis-Williams said. “We keep Elvis alive.”
Kent Ripley of Elvis Weddings agrees, saying, “They want to protect the Elvis brand, but what are they protecting by taking Elvis away from the public?”
Ironically, the state of Nevada passed a law years ago that would still allow Elvis impersonators to perform at a concert, stage show, or even a wedding. Las Vegas lawyer Mark Tratos, who helped draft the law, says the right-of-publicity statute covers all types of tribute shows.
“An Elvis show is a performer essentially entertaining others by re-creating that person onstage,” Tratos said Monday. “The juxtaposition would be, deciding to go to a mechanic as Elvis. Is he really an entertainer, creating a story? Or simply using the Elvis name to essentially draw a customer who can say, ‘I had an Elvis guy fix my car.’ The question is, are you using it to attract attention versus storytelling?”
That may mean a chapel could still have an Elvis impersonator perform at a wedding, but could not use any references to Elvis in their logos, names, and possibly their advertising.
There are 55 chapels in Las Vegas, and many of them stage literally thousands of Elvis weddings every year.