In the bizarro lawsuit news of the day, webOS Nation is reporting that a lawyer representing singer Chubby Checker has filed a lawsuit against HP.
The case revolves around an app for Palm OS called “The Chubby Checker,” which estimated penis length based on shoe size. Palm was acquired by HP in 2010, and the app remained in the webOS catalog until September 2012.
Though webOS Nation reports that the app was downloaded less than 100 times over the years, the lawsuit claims that HP and Palm violated the musical artist’s “Chubby Checker” trademark and associated it with “obscene, sexual connotation and images,” damaging the man’s reputation significantly.
The lawsuit is clearly ridiculous, as Chubby Checker’s reputation is almost entirely based around the early 60s song and dance craze “The Twist.”
It has, however, brought to light the fact that penis length estimator apps are rather popular, at least for Android devices. An app called the Penis Size Calculator, for example, has over half a million downloads and a few hundred of the funniest app reviews that can be found in Google Play.
If the WebProNews office is any indication, the lack of knowledge about the Chubby Checker app, as well as the nostalgic glee induced by the video below, mean that Chubby Checker’s reputation was probably not damaged by Palm’s penis estimator in any way. The lawsuit is probably more about reminding people that Chubby Checker is still touring rather than repairing the singer’s reputation.