Psychic Network Sues General Mills over Miss Cleo

The South Florida company that owns the rights to the popular TV psychic Miss Cleo is suing General Mills alleging copyright infringement for hiring the psychic to promote its breakfast cereal.


According to a complaint recently filed in federal court, Psychic Readers Network Inc. said General Mills disregarded the intellectual property rights of others with a series of online ads where Miss Cleo amazes callers with predictions that they will be filling their bowls with French Toast Crunch. The lawsuit alleges the videos look similar to the Psychic Readers Network's commercials from the early 2000s. The network said it has spent more than $100 million to promote Miss Cleo since hiring her in the 1990s. The network said it copyrighted Miss Cleo Creatives in 2002, according to the lawsuit.


"Miss Cleo does have quite the folk hero cast to her, and it was an interesting choice by General Mills to bring her back to promote cereal," said Joel Dichter, a lawyer for the Fort Lauderdale-based Psychic Readers. "But it shows their disregard for the intellectual property rights of others."He said General Mills withdrew the Miss Cleo ads from social media sites after the lawsuit was filed. A spokesman for General Mills said the company does not comment on pending litigation.


It's unclear how much Miss Cleo, whose real name is Youree Dell Cleomili Harris, was paid by the cereal company.