Next Champagne-Room Archuleta May Go Undiscovered Thanks To ‘Stripper Idol’ Lawsuit

It’s hard to picture a loosey-goosey institution like American Idol—a longtime proponent of talentless T n’ A-havers’ rights—coming down hard on a flattering copycat contest for undiscovered pole-abouts.

Yet that appears to be precisely the case, as FremantleMedia is suing Texas’s Palazio Men’s Club (”Where the girls is as classy as our faux-marble floors™”) for title and cheesy-logo infringement with their Stripper Idol contest. From TMZ:

In the lawsuit, filed this week in U.S District Court in Texas, Fremantle claims Palazio’s competition — which allegedly jacked Idol’s name and trademarked logo — has tarnished the singing show’s good name. [...]

The club’s owner, Lampros, told us: “I don’t feel they have any grounds to sue … This is just our way of inticing [sic] people to come out and have a good time and contribute to the economic crisis that is going on.”

What’s more, Palazio went to the trouble of finding three judge-alikes—the Simon-equivalent particularly nailing his part, with observations like, “You call that a lap dance? It’s like someone was rubbing a plastic bag full of warm fried chicken parts on my crotch. AW-ful.” We side squarely with Lampros. Fremantle is, after all, a company that boasts a high-ranking exec from the world of all-male adult entertainment. Surely they could have shown the same relaxed, forward-thinking attitudes in this instance, and graciously lent out their format in the hopes that it might uncover Austin’s next, great, Korbel-bathing seductress (with down-the-road screenwriting aspirations).

• “A.I.” Suing The Pants Off “Stripper Idol” [TMZ]