Follow Gene Ross at twitter@GeneRoss3; Follow AdultFYI at twitter@Adultfyi1

Palm Beach from www.sun-sentinel.com – Marilyn Monroe may have been the most prominent sex symbol of the last century, but her image cannot be used to promote a highbrow West Palm Beach strip club, her estate argued in a federal lawsuit filed last week.

Monroe’s of Palm Beach is infringing on the late actress’ trademark by using her name and image in its signs, its Twitter account and its very name, according to the lawsuit filed by the estate of Marilyn Monroe, which is based in New York.

The restaurant bills itself as an “elite adult club and steak house,” located in the 1000 block of North Congress Avenue in West Palm Beach.

Until recently, some of its fliers featured a silhouette reminiscent of the iconic scene from “The Seven Year Itch” in which Monroe’s skirt is blown from a blast of air coming from a subway vent.

A manager at the West Palm Beach club, who identified himself only as John, said the business has stopped using the skirt silhouette, but denied the club is trying to profit from the memory of Marilyn Monroe. The club uses images of numerous 1950s stars, including Lana Turner, Bettie Page and the Rat Pack, he said.

“Monroe,” he said, was the name of the club owner’s cat, and the name was chosen in jest as a challenge to Rachel’s, a rival strip club believed to be named after its owner’s cat.