George Burns and Rodney Junior, owners of Brothers III Enterprises, announced their decision to take action against the basketball legend, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, for stealing their commercial idea to use “fictitious doctors” to boost sales for the soda product, Dr. Pepper.
Burns met Erving at the Red Rock Resort and Casino, located in Las Vegas in November 2007. It was there Burns pitched his commercial idea and Erving expressed interest to collaborate with Brothers III Enterprises.
From November 2007 to February 2008, Burns kept in contact with Erving’s personal assistant via email correspondences and letters. Burns mailed a package with the commercial pitch and script to Erving, under the impression that Erving and his company, Egroup, were going to review it and agree to help Burns and his partner, Junior.
The surprise came in August 2008, when two co-workers informed Burns that Dr. Pepper had released the first commercial of their new campaign featuring the infamous Dr. J. The commercial had tweaks here and there, but was the same concept Burns had pitched to Erving.
“You can imagine my disbelief. Here I am waiting on a response from Erving’s camp about proceeding with our commercial idea for Dr. Pepper, and he had been using it to his advantage all along. It just saddens me,” expressed Burns.
Burns and Junior opened a civil action case against Erving in August 2008.
“We are going to fight this case to the end to ensure our clients receive the proper recognition they deserve,” said Barry Levinson, Barry Levinson Law Offices located in Las Vegas.
ABOUT BROTHERS III ENTERPRISES
Brothers III Enterprises has many components; from publishing to commercial concepts to printing greeting cards, they do it all. Their belief is “Pursuing excellence and nothing less” for their clients and all the projects that they do. Visit the Brothers III at www.brothersiii.com or on Facebook or Twitter.
