Spike Lee Settles Trademark Dispute with Spike TV

Famed Spike Lee, New York filmmaker has settled his dispute with Spike TV over the use of the trade name Spike. As reported to Reuters, Viacom and Spike Lee resolved the lawsuit that Spike Lee had filed against Viacom over plans to change the name of the TNN cable channel to Spike TV. Spike Lee told reporters that he no longer believed that Viacom had deliberately intended to trade on his name when naming Spike TV.

At first, Spike Lee objected to having his name related to the new Spike TV channel because of some of the proposed content. Viacom's initial comments were that the name Spike was too generic a term for Spike Lee to have an exclusive trademark, and that Spike was only Spike Lee's first name, and there were many other famous Spikes, and other meanings for that name. Read more about Spike Lee's Lawsuit with Crime Guide Bill Bickel.