![]() “None of this is meant to prevent anyone from earning an income or creating a business,” she said in an emailed statement. ![]() Gibson's lawyer, Leigh Brecheen, said that her client is not seeking to put Agurto out of business. Arancibia said Miel Gibson intends to keep its name but plans to lose the actor’s image from the label.īusinesses and celebrities routinely send cease-and-desist letters to people who are profiting from copyrighted images, names and logos without authorisation. “I have hundreds of messages I haven’t responded to.” María José Arancibia, a lawyer in Chile who represents Agurto, said she had reached out to the actor’s attorney, hoping to negotiate a compromise. “I’m sleeping three hours a night,” she said. The bulk sellers where she gets her honey are nearly out of stock. ![]() The government recently authorised Chileans to dip into their pension plans early to provide a lifeline to millions who are struggling to make ends meet as several sectors of the economy remain paralysed. What would happen to my family, to my finances? I’m a single mother of four and they depend on me.” Chile’s quarantine has been among the longest and strictest in the world, and the country is still reeling from one of the highest per capita rates of infection. “I was terribly anguished,” Agurto (40) said in an interview. But others warned her that Americans are tremendously litigious, Agurto said, which led her to delete the email account she had created for the business, hoping the whole thing would go away. Some friends told Agurto she should ignore the letter, arguing that no American lawyer would waste time shutting down a woman selling honey from her home in Santiago during a pandemic. “I realised I was up against Goliath,” she said in an interview. “It has come to my attention that you are illegally using Mr Gibson’s name and/or likeness and/or biography to market or sell honey products.”Īt first Agurto entertained the possibility the whole thing could be a cruel joke, but when it became clear it was a real legal threat, she panicked. “We are counsel to Mel Gibson,” said the letter, which was sent by a Los Angeles attorney whose firm represents several celebrities. Then last week a most unwelcome email popped into Agurto's inbox with the subject line: "Cease and Desist/Miel Gibson." That was the origin of Miel Gibson, the tiniest and scrappiest of businesses, which catered, according to the label, "Only to the brave." She advertised on social media and by word-of-mouth, picking up enough orders to keep her reasonably busy and the family's bills paid. So on a whim, Agurto had a graphic designer friend sketch out a logo with a scene from the movie Braveheart, printed a handful at home and glued them onto glass jars. Mel sounds quite similar to the Spanish word for honey, miel. Agurto remembered she had a large stash of organic honey in the pantry. Inspiration struck when she and her boyfriend came across a post with a photo of the American actor Mel Gibson. ![]() Four months into quarantine, Yohana Agurto, an unemployed teacher in Chile, was scrolling through social media to take her mind off her dwindling savings and the four children she had to feed. ![]()
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