Donald Trump files suit against Lithuanian Mrs. Universe

Entrepreneur Donald Trump and NBC Universal that own the Miss Universe trademark have filed a suit against a Lithuania firm that held its own "Universe" beauty pageant, the Associated Press reported. 

Lawyers representing Miss Universe Organization L.P. claim the Mrs. Universe contest held Saturday in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius violated the Miss Universe trademark. The U.S.-based company will seek damages from the Mrs. Universe pageant organizer.

"Our claim is very simple. The title was used illegally because all rights belong to the U.S.-based company," Erikas Saukalas, a lawyer representing Miss Universe Organization L.P., told reporters in Vilnius. "We will also demand compensation for losses. I believe the court will evaluate the damage done to this trademark," Saukalas added.

Meanwhile, the local beauty pageant’s organizers say don’t fell any fault and deny any wrongdoing.

“The Universe-word is a common generalized one, so the U.S. company's claims are ungrounded,” Director of Pramogu Akademija, the pageant’s organizer, Evelina Gruzdiene said referring to the situation. She also said that doesn’t rule out that it was the trafficking aspect that triggered a lot of the criticism of the pageant.

"Huge amounts of money are involved in that business, so we can only guess that someone disliked this idea," she is quoted as saying.