Updates

 

Paul Frank Sues His Own Company

Paul Frank isn't monkeying around anymore. In August, the designer told readers how he went from creating a monkey character named Julius to co-founding and building a $100 million company. This March, Frank filed a lawsuit against Paul Frank Industries as well as co-founder and president Ryan Heuser and CEO John Oswald. Frank claims he was unjustly fired in November and told he couldn't design elsewhere. The suit also alleges that Heuser and Oswald--who together own 61 percent of the company--have refused to share profits with Frank and are trying to force him to sell back his 31 percent stake for less than its value. In his lawsuit, Frank asks that the company be liquidated. He has also filed a copyright infringement suit against Paul Frank Industries over its use of Julius.

Paul Frank Industries responded with a restraining order against the designer over his use of the Paul Frank name (his full name is Paul Frank Sunich) and alleges that Frank had no role in the company's fall 2006 line. "Contrary to Mr. Sunich's implications, PFI was not created by one individual but rather by a group of dedicated professionals," the company said in a statement that calls Frank's claims "meritless and untrue."

"That they would treat me this way after 10 years is really amazing," says Frank. "I've gotten letters from Paul Frank employees. They wish they had their mentor and friend there. They don't know if they want to be there anymore." --Ryan McCarthy

The Idea Guru's Next Big Thing

Twice he appeared on the cover of Inc., and now Doug Hall, the former Procter & Gamble idea guru who founded the Eureka Ranch to help businesses develop new product lines, has gone prime time. As a judge on American Inventor, the latest reality series produced by Simon Cowell, Hall provides his expert, and often contrarian, opinion on a panel comprising marketing and advertising gurus. "It's the typical debate you have between product people and marketing people," says Hall. "We kind of go at it a little bit." The season finale is slated to air this month on ABC. --Athena Schindelheim

Signing Deals, Shaving Costs

Six years ago, we examined the viability of HeadBlade, a start-up with no employees and little operating capital. What it did have was a founder, Todd Greene, who fervently believed there was a market for his specialty head razor. But, HeadBlade struggled to line up investors and grab shelf space. "I lost money on every HeadBlade," Greene says. The company didn't become profitable until 2003, after the drugstore chain Rite Aid agreed to carry the razor and Greene moved production to China from the U.S. He expects revenue to at least double to more than $4 million this year, thanks to recent deals with Wal-Mart and Eckerd pharmacies. And the little razor has some new admirers: Last year, the Museum of Modern Art added the HeadBlade to its permanent collection. --Max Chafkin