An appeals court has given Paris Hilton the green light to pursue a lawsuit against Hallmark Cards Inc. over their use of her picture and catchphrase on a greeting card with permission.

Hilton sued the company in 2007 after it began selling — without her permission — birthday cards of a cartoon Paris serving a plate of food to a patron as a waitress. A photo of Hilton’s face was pasted on the animated body. The socialite has long alleged that the company used her image and infamous catchphrase, “That’s Hot!’ on a card that read “Paris’s First Day as a Waitress.”

Paris claims the card is a rip-off of her appearance on the now-defunct TV series, The Simple Life.

A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judge agress, giving Hilton the green light to go ahead with the case, turning down Hallmark executives’ claims that the cartoon on the card was of a generic woman and not Hilton.

Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain said: “The basic setting is the same: we see Paris Hilton, born to privilege, working as a waitress. (Hilton) has at least some probability of prevailing on the merits before a trier of fact.”