As businesses in Melania Trump's hometown start selling Melania-inspired food, her lawyer intervenes

Record ID: 75192

  • Title: As businesses in Melania Trump's hometown start selling Melania-inspired food, her lawyer intervenes
  • Date: 2nd December 2016
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Slovenian) RESTAURANT MANAGER, BRUNO VIDMAR, SAYING: "The burger is pleasantly spicy, because Trump's statements are also pleasantly spicy. On top there's a piece of cheese which represents his hair, and on the side there are what we call "dollar potatoes", which are round in shape, like dollar coins, you know."
  • Embargoed: 17th December 2016 16:29
  • Keywords: United States Slovenia Melania Trump
  • Location: SEVNICA, LJUBLJANA; SLOVENIA
  • City: SEVNICA, LJUBLJANA; SLOVENIA
  • Country: Slovenia
  • Reuters ID: LVA0035B70093
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: When Donald Trump was elected president of the United States last month, a restaurant in Sevnica marked the event by creating a cake named after his wife Melania, who grew up in the small Slovenian town.
    The restaurant also offered a burger called Trump, notable for the addition of spicy pepperoni and a piece of cheese topping the bun, complete with a tiny American flag which doubles as a toothpick.
    "The burger is pleasantly spicy, because Trump's statements are also pleasantly spicy. On top there's a piece of cheese which represents his hair, and on the side there are what we call "dollar potatoes", which are round in shape, like dollar coins, you know," said manager at restaurant "Rondo", Bruno Vidmar.
    And to follow the main course, customers can order a Melania Trump-inspired mascarpone dessert enriched with strawberry mousse with small candies of gold and silver on top.
    "We created the dessert the day Trump won. We knew that Melania likes strawberries so we made something based on that, we added mousse, whipped cream and mascarpone cream cheese, and also a somewhat less sweetened sponge cake dough, since Melania likes to keep herself fit so the dessert should have less sugar in it. And we put in some decoration as well. We then put it on Facebook, some reporters noticed it, and it instantly became a hit," Vidmar said.
    Other businesses in the tiny Slovenian town quickly followed suit, with a nearby cake shop offering a white chocolate and almonds-based cake called Melania which also features pieces of edible gold.
    But not everything is sweet in the world of Trump-inspired dining, as a phone call came in this week from a Slovenian lawyer representing Melania Trump who said that using Melania's name and photo without her consent is not allowed.
    Lawyer Natasa Pirc Musar's office in capital Ljubljana said that the names "Trump" and "Melania Trump" are protected trademarks.
    "And I proposed - and she (Melania Trump) agreed - just to send a press release, just to make the public know that there is a legal line to do this. We have to take into account a couple of facts. The fact about the photo - you are not allowed to use a photo for commercial purposes without the consent of the person, that's for sure. You are not allowed to use Melania Trump to sell, to boost the sales of products. There is a thin line about the usage of only the name Melanija. Here we are discussing the so-called personality rights, and if the product is going to be something against Mrs. Trump's beliefs, so that it will infringe her dignity, her name and so forth, they also have to be careful," said Pirc Musar.
    Since then, the burger served at "Rondo" was renamed Presidential Burger, and jars of locally-made honey with Melania's picture quickly disappeared from shop shelves.
    The legal intervention may have dampened immediate hopes in this town of 4,500 people that it can benefit from its link to international celebrity and political power.
    "And I hope that people will not take this as a warning that Mrs. Trump does not want people to be inventive, to sell their products... She just wants that this happening, this thing, is within the legal lines. Nothing else, and nothing more," said Pirc Musar in her Ljubljana office.
    Back in Sevnica the cakes are sticking with the label for now on the grounds that they only use her first name.
    The town, which lies on the banks of the River Sava amid forest-covered hills, is known for its local products which include honey, wine, and fittingly, shoes and lingerie.
    Melania was born in a hospital in the nearby town of Novo Mesto in 1970, when Slovenia was part of the former Yugoslavia, to car dealer Viktor Knavs and his wife Amalija, and was raised in Sevnica.
    She started modelling at the age of 16, then pursued a career in Paris and Milan before moving to New York in 1996.
    After changing her last name to Knauss, she married Trump in a lavish wedding in Florida in 2005 and is set to become the First Lady of the United States next month on January 20, 2017.
    At a roundabout leading into Sevnica, a local newspaper has put up a giant poster featuring Melania Trump's picture and the greeting: "Welcome to the hometown of the First Lady of the USA".
    In spite of the legal intervention, the fad does not seem to be stopping, as a restaurant in Zavratec, about 13 km from Sevnica, is trying to attract tourists by offering a special menu with trout called Melania, and on a hill above Sevnica, a cottage started selling Melania pancakes which include vanilla cream, blueberries, and yet more edible golden dust.
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