In Boltenhagen, Germany, a mermaid statue mysteriously appeared on a rock on the beach on New Year's Eve 2004.  It quickly became a tourist attraction, and the locals put it on postcards and t-shirts etc. 
Then former beauty queen Kathrin Nonnenmacher came to town in mid-2005, revealing that she had trademarked the term "Baltic Sea Nymph" (which is what the townsfolk were calling the statue) and that she was the only one that could make Baltic Sea Nymph merchandise -- then she started suing.  But she did not claim that she put the statue there or sculpted it or had anything to do with it -- she was simply exploiting trademark law.
So the claims are working thru the courts, and now the government is chiming in.  It's a big mess...

Read more about it here


I have more mermaid news, but it's late.  More tomorrow...