Nativo Lopez Wants OC Weekly to Pay Him $500,936 for Publishing His Name


As if the sad saga of Nativo Lopez–once the lion of Latinos in Orange County, a righteous civil rights leader who let power get to his head and is now about as relevant to the county's Mexicans as Naugles–couldn't get any sadder, now this: the man born Larry wants to bill the Weekly $500,936 for publishing his name.

Reason? Nativo claims we're infringing on his copyright to his name.

Um, okay…
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In a Sept. 19 letter that he sent to former Village Voice Media CEO Jim Larkin (former owner of this infernal rag) Lopez specifically targets me for “repeated infringements” for publishing his name.

“You will not be afforded a second opportunity of notice for such infringement,” Lopez wrote. “This is the sole notice and opportunity that you will receive to correct your records, and avoid any liability in the future for a copyright/trade-mark/trade-name infringement.”

If we continue to publish his name and variants (Larry Lopez, Larry Nativo Lopez, Nativo Dante Lopez-Vigil, Nativo Vigil Lopez, Nativo Lopez, Nativo V. Lopez, NVL, N.V. Lopez), Lopez says we'll be billed “according to the terms” and helps out on the latter point by enclosing a prospective bill totaling $500,000, with $750 set aside for “document preparation and review” and $186 for “notary and postage,” with a due date of Oct. 15.

That's in two weeks!

He also included legal-looking documents that he filed in San Bernardino County and Arizona's Maricopa and Pinal counties (quick aside, Larry: don't you know the Arizona boycott is still going on over SB 1070?) that say something or other.

Our drunk cabrón of a lawyer took a look at Lopez's demand and said we're good. Part of me wants to write “Larry Lopez” 1,000 times, to celebrate press freedom. But the most bizarre part of this episode? How Nativo now signs his name, according to the documents he sent over. It's–I kid you not– “.Nativo-Vigil: Lopez.”

Let me write it again, this time with no quotes (note to my copy editor–this is REALLY how Larry wants it, so don't change what I'm about to write):

.Nativo-Vigil: Lopez.

That period at the end? Not mine; his. Here's the proof, from the letter he sent us:

Huh? My, how the mighty fall…

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