Luke Combs helping a fan who almost owed him $250,000 for selling unauthorized merchandise

[rpannier]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Country singer Luke Combs is making amends to a disabled Florida woman who sells tumblers online after she was ordered to pay him $250,000 when she got snared in a crackdown his lawyers launched against companies that sell unauthorized merchandise with his image or name on it.

Combs in an Instagram video posted Wednesday said he told his attorneys to remove Nicol Harness from a lawsuit they filed in an Illinois federal court and that he was sending her $11,000. She had sold on Amazon 18 tumblers she had made with his name and likeness for $20 each, grossing $360.

The singer, who recently topped the country charts with his remake of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” also said he would start selling his own tumbler with the proceeds going to pay Harness’ medical bills — she has heart disease and was recently hospitalized. He also said he would fly Harness and her family to an upcoming concert so he could meet her.

He said his lawyers were only supposed to go after big companies that sell unauthorized goods, not fans who have a little business on the side. Most of the 45 other sellers sued appear to be large operations in Asia, court filings show. Under U.S. copyright law, sellers of unauthorized goods can be hit with stiff penalties and have their assets seized. They can also face criminal charges.

https://apnews.com/article/luke-combs-lawsuit-unauthorized-merchandise-fan-6c58df6889a207236381f68065e12525

[malaise]

1. Nice

Rec 🎄

[marble falls]

2. Every once in a while ......

... there's a song. This is just that song

I still tear up every time I hear it. No doubt Luke Combs feels this song, too. I really like the way he kept the arrangement so close to Tracy Chapman's.

[malaise]

3. Compassion and human decency

Yes 🎄

[marble falls]

4. This song has been so important to me over the years. I was working in a psychiatric treatment center for kids when ...

... I first heard it. One week all the kids were about the "Cars that Go Boom" and the next, this song was the song and it stayed the song for quite a while.