That Flair Guy from Office Space Lost a Lawsuit Over "Illegal Flair"
The actor who played Brian, the flair-obsessed Chotchkie's waiter from Office Space, has lost a lawsuit in which he accused 20th Century Fox of using his image to sell "illegal flair."
Todd Duffey was specifically referring to the Office Space Box of Flair, a kit that contains 15 of the 37 buttons you'd need to be a model Chotchkie's employee like Brian.
He claimed that Fox owed him for using his photo on the product's packaging and the enclosed "Guide to Flair" book, and using his image as the flair guy to sell the product. He wanted damages, attorneys' fees, and "the destruction of the illegal flair."
No dice. Duffey signed away all his promotional rights for Office Space in a day player agreement, including the right to use images from his performance to sell crappy spin-off products.
Here's U.S. district court judge J. Paul Oetken expressing himself in a decision to dismiss the case:
"There is only one reasonable way to read the relevant terms: Duffey granted Cubicle all rights to 17 images of his performance in Office Space, including the right to use his image on Office Space merchandise."
In case you're curious what else Duffey's been up to since Office Space, he wrote a piece for L.A. Weekly last year about his life as "That Guy." (Spoilers: Typecasting. Free beer.)
