Auditions for a “Hottest Mom in America” TV pilot, like this one in Los Angeles, attracted thousands of moms.

It's getting tough to open a magazine, turn on the TV or watch a movie these days without being confronted by some desperate housewife with a crazy libido and great abs. As a cultural phenomenon, all the "hot mom" movement has lacked is a heated legal battle, and now it has one: Trouble is brewing over ownership of the very term "hot mom."
Jessica Denay, a single mom from Los Angeles who has a celebrity following, is in a dispute with TV marketing firm Buzznation and Medicis, the manufacturer of the dermal filler Restylane, Botox's so-called sister product. The company is producing a reality-TV pilot that, Denay maintains, co-opts a brand she created.

Medicis isn't fazed by her claims, calling them "unfounded" and "false," and sees this aging demographic as too good to pass up. Consequently, trademark applications have been submitted. Testy lawyer letters have been exchanged. High-profile litigation firms have been retained. And an awkward chapter in feminist history unfolds.

The fight erupted last summer around "Hottest Mom in America," a pilot paid for entirely by the pharmaceutical company. The show's producers auditioned thousands of moms in six cities and say they will award the "hottest" one $50,000 in scholarship and prize money, a year's supply of Restylane and an interview with a modeling agency. Denay, who left her job as a tutor for Pierce Brosnan's kids to promote her own "hot mom" brand through a Web site and a book, says the pilot cheapens her carefully crafted "movement" and risks her hard-won celebrity endorsements.

Read more here