Fall Out Boy are being sued for overusing the llama puppets that appeared in their video for ‘Young And Menace’, it has been reported.
The puppets were created by Furry Puppet Studio Inc., who have now taken legal action against the band.
According to the puppet-makers, the props were only licensed for use in the ‘Young And Menace’ video, but have since featured at Fall Out Boy’s live shows, on merchandise, during TV appearances, and have even been turned into emojis. The lawsuit states those uses as being “so far beyond the scope of the initial project” that their creators would need “omniscient clairvoyance” to have predicted them.
“At no point was the plaintiff ever told that the puppets would be consistently performing on stage, or for all 80 concerts on the tour,” the suit reads, according to Billboard. “And it certainly could not be inferred that they were being used for merchandise (t-shirts, key chains, stuffed animals), GIFs, television appearances, emojis, apps, and social media.
“At no point did plaintiff give permission for the puppets to be used/exploited in the widespread way they were.”
Furry Puppet Studio say the band have “dishonestly and absurdly” claimed to be co-creators of the puppets – something they say is “impossible”. The company say the original design for the llamas was done two years before they were contacted about the video. They add that the band themselves didn’t have any creative input into the puppets, with only video production group Rubik House and the band’s management, Crush Music, sending ideas for “other artists’ monster concepts”.
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The document states those ideas were not used and adds that “ideas are not even copyrightable expression which could give rise to joint authorship.”
Furry Puppet Studios are seeking damages and a court order to prevent the band from using the puppets outside of the agreed licence. Fall Out Boy have yet to respond to the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, it was revealed last month that Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz and Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus once made a children’s TV show together. The pair created Bronze Blue, which followed an underwater pop-punk band who toured beaches, played eco-friendly songs, and battled the villainous Sushi Chef.