A souvenir shop next door to Graceland accuses Elvis Presley Enterprises of federal monopoly violations, restraint of trade, conspiracy and tortious interference.
Boulevard Souvenirs, which has 13 years remaining on its lease on Elvis Presley Boulevard, claims co-defendant Carol Butler, vice president of international licensing for Elvis Presley Enterprises, has been trying to force it out of business for years.
Rick Roberts, who founded Boulevard in 2000, says vendors told him that in January this year that defendants demanded that licensees of Elvis products refuse to sell to anyone else within 5 miles of Graceland.
He cites a letter the defendants allegedly sent to vendors, saying the ostensible reason for this antitrust violation is to “prevent the commingling of Licensed Products with counterfeit goods”.
Unless vendors of licensed products signed the letter, Elvis Presley Enterprises threatened to terminate them, he says. Now all of his vendors have cut him off. He says he was grossing $1 million a year. He demands $13 million for 13 years of lost profits, and $26 million in punitive damages.
He is represented by Randall Songstad of Arlington, Tenn.