Mention an excessive use of flair and no doubt your listeners will cast their minds back to 1999’s Office Space, starring everyone’s imaginary boyfriend Ron Livingston, where an over-excited waiter at Chotchkie’s shows off an over-the-top amount of pins, buttons and other baubles plastered all over his work attire (37 pieces, to be exact). The actor who plays Flair Guy, or “Brian” felt that not only did his character own that look, he’s entitled to any money the movie studio made from flair spinoff products.

It’s safe to say that 20th Century Fox didn’t agree with him, as actor Todd Duffey just lost his lawsuit against the studio for hawking the Office Space Box of Flair, which had “fifteen flair buttons printed with fun sayings and designs” for anyone who wants to pretend to work at a casual dining chain with torturous dress code rules.

Duffey said his image had been unjustly used to sell that item, and sued the studio last year seeking damages, attorney’s fees and “destruction of the allegedly illegal flair,” reports Quartz.

Too bad he signed away “all rights throughout the universe” when he agreed to appear as Brian in the movie as part of his “Day Player Agreement.” That little bit of paperwork includes “the right to use pictures from his performance for commercial purposes,” a U.S. District Court judge wrote in his decision.

“There is only one reasonable way to read the relevant terms: Duffey granted Cubicle all rights to 17 images of his performance in Office Space, including the right to use his image on Office Space merchandise,” he said, dismissing the lawsuit.

The guy from “Office Space” has lost his lawsuit against “illegal flair” [Quartz]

You can follow MBQ on Twitter where she will display as much flair as she sees fit given the day and time: @marybethquirk

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