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Image credit: Britney Spears: Kevin Winter/ImageDirect/Fox

IF THE SKECHER FITS Spears and Skecher are suing each other

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When it comes to licensing deals, Britney Spears may not be that innocent. She claims footwear manufacturer Skechers has taken advantage of her, and she's not going to let the company get away with it, if she succeeds with a $1.5 million lawsuit she filed on Monday in federal court. According to the Associated Press, the breach of contract suit claims that Skechers used its association with her to draw customers to its own line of roller skates and skate accessories at a time when her Skechers line was not yet available in stores. She also claims that Skechers failed to find outside manufacturers for her line but used her image to promote its own line, without paying her royalties. According to Reuters, the suit also alleges that the company backed out of sponsoring her 2001-02 concert tour.

Spears shouldn't expect Skechers to roll over too readily. According to Bloomberg News, Skechers plans to file a countersuit. The company said on Tuesday that it was Spears who didn't abide by the contract, claiming that she failed to approve designs and manufacturers for related clothing and accessories, causing Skechers to miss the fall season and miss out on millions of dollars in potential sales. Daniel Petrocelli, the attorney representing the company, told the New York Daily News that Spears' suit ''is a publicity stunt on the part of Britney and her people to avoid the damage associated with her breach of the contract with Skechers. We were about to sue her, and now she will be sued.''