Hollywood's golden couple sue jeweller over 'imitations' of their wedding rings

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are suing the jeweller who made their wedding rings for $50m (£35m), saying he is taking advantage of their fame by selling knock-off copies at high-class outlets in California and Las Vegas.

A lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles this week, accuses Damiani International of selling jewellery under the name "Brad and Jennifer white-gold wedding bands with diamonds" in violation of an agreement not to reproduce the rings exchanged at last summer's publicity-saturated wedding in Malibu.

Pitt and Aniston, who describe themselves in the suit as "perhaps the world's most recognisable couple", are demanding an injunction to halt their sale and $50m in compensation. "Damiani essentially made Pitt and Aniston serve as its unwilling shills, hawking its jewellery to potential customers," the complaint said. Representatives for Damiani say they have not had time to study the lawsuit and would not comment. The rings, said to be on sale at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and elsewhere, are not quite identical to the ones designed by Silvia Damiani and engraved with the words "Brad", "Jen" and "2000" that were used in last year's ceremony. The purity of the gold is apparently slightly different, as is the number of diamonds. Since the alleged copies are selling for $1,000 apiece, one would imagine the stones are considerably cheaper, too.

Whatever its outcome, the suit will at least keep Pitt and Aniston's names in the news. Pitt, 37, has not had a film hit for a while, and Aniston, 32, is likely to face the end of her television show, Friends, this year. The suit accuses Damiani of seeking "the kind of publicity that money can't buy" – a commodity the golden couple have long had in abundance.