Erie County strip club Kandy's sued over use of models' images online

Rhian Sugden, described in court records as an "English glamor model" and "one of Europe's most famous celebrities," has appeared in hundreds of magazines and has posed topless for photos included on the third page of British tabloids, making her "one of the most featured Page 3 girls of all time."

But Sugden has never appeared at Kandy's Adult Playground, a strip club south of Waterford in rural southern Erie County.

And Sugden wants to be sure no one thinks she has ever been affiliated with the place.

Sugden is one of a group of 14 female professional models, some also known for posing for Playboy, who are suing Kandy's, claiming the strip club used their likenesses without permission for advertisements for Kandy's on Facebook and other social media.

The women's photos, the suit claims, were "misappropriated and intentionally altered."

The suit, docketed in U.S. District Court in Erie on Friday, claims Kandy's engaged in trademark infringement, false advertising, defamation and other violations of federal and Pennsylvania law. The suit seeks monetary damages and demands that Kandy's stop using the women's images to promote the club at 13872 Route 19.

Kandy's used the women's photos without paying them, and the suit claims that "any improper or unauthorized use of their Images substantially injures their careers."

The Kandy's ads, the suit claims, wrongly imply the models "are strippers, endorse a strip club or are otherwise associated or affiliated with a strip club."

The suit includes photos of a dozen Facebook advertisements that the women claim used their photos without permission.

The ads promote various events at Kandy's. They include a Safari Theme Night, in July 2016, a veterans appreciation night in conjunction with Veterans Day in November 2016 and a luau in June 2019. An ad from February 2016 promotes a "Super Stripper Bowl Party," apparently in conjunction with the Super Bowl.

The images of the women used in the ads, the suit claims, were misappropriated from the models' "own social media pages, which each Plaintiff uses to market herself to potential clients, grow her fan base and build and maintain her brand."

The suit names as defendants Bison Beer Inc., which the suit states does business as Kandy's Adult Playground, and Joseph B. Cunningham, which the suit lists as the owner or CEO of Bison Beer. Cunningham could not be immediately reached for comment.

Two lawyers represent the 14 women who are the plaintiffs in the case. The lawyers are Louis J. Kroeck IV, of Pittsburgh, and John V. Golaszewski, of New York City. They did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The defendants will get a chance to respond in court. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter.

Four of the plaintiffs are identified in the suit as English models, including Rhian Sugden, and the others are identified as living in other countries and the United States. About half of the 35-page lawsuit includes brief biographies of each model, including a listing of their media appearances, such as on magazine covers and in movies.

The suit describes one plaintiff, Tiffany Toth, also known as Tiffany Gray, as "an extremely successful model that takes great pride in holding the prestigious title of a Playboy Playmate." Another plaintiff, Dessie Mitcheson Pilek, is described as placing in the top ten in a Miss Pennsylvania beauty pageant and then becoming "the face of Playboy Intimates" and later "crowned Maxim magazine's 'Hometown Hottie.'"

The lawsuit is not the first time that activity at a Kandy's has landed in federal court.

A predecessor to Kandy's Adult Playground was Kandyland, which operated at 14th and State streets in Erie. It featured all-nude dancers and in 1994 ran afoul of a new city of Erie ordinance that required female dancers at adult entertainment clubs to wear at least pasties and G-strings.

Kandyland fought the city all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the ordinance in 2000. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the ordinance two years later.

The models' suit against Kandy's Adult Playground cites not the Constitution, but a federal law, the Lanham Act, also known as the Trademark Act of 1946. It deals with trademarks, service marks and unfair competition.

The suit also claims Kandy's engaged in unfair trade practices under Pennsylvania law and violated the models' privacy rights. Another claim is that the misappropriated image damaged the models' reputations.

The defamation occurred, the suit claims, because when each disputed ad "falsely portrays each Plaintiff as a stripper, it imputes unchastity to her."

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