Chubby Checker Sues HP

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Every once in a while, a story like this comes along.

According to a press release sent out this week, Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans) is suing HP for half a billion dollars. That's half a billion dollars.

For those of you too young to remember: Chubby, now 71, was a major rock star in the early 60s. One of his songs was responsible for creating a monstrous dance craze with the same name: "The Twist." It's the only song, ever, to reach No. 1 on the charts twice (September, 1960 and January, 1962). He had a number of huge follow-up hits as well.

Consider Checker as being the Psy of his day. Think I'm kidding? Check out Chubby performing it here or what the Twist craze looked like here. See what I mean?

Back to the lawsuit. HP purchased Palm back in April 2010 and closed it down four months later. HP, though, had bought Palm lock, stock and barrel. That means everything -- including all the apps in the Palm app store at the time. Including one that Chubby Checker objects to.

That app was also called "Chubby Checker." The app had nothing to do with music -- or "The Twist" -- or the performer. It was meant to be a cheeky method for measuring adult male personal growth. It had reportedly been downloaded a total of 84 times.

Anyway, Checker has hired a Florida law firm, which announced the lawsuit in a press release.

According to the official explanation: