More fucked up lawsuits

[kierthos]

Al Franken is being sued by Fox News Network: link thingy

Does anyone see the problem with this? He's a comedian. It's satire. If this lawsuit had any possible merit, not only would Al Franken be fucked, but so would Dennis Miller, Jon Stewart, and whichever SNL cast member is doing the news these days.

Dear Fox News, get a fucking grip. No news organization is "fair and balanced", least of all you. Get a life, smell the fucking roses, and stop being stupid.

Comments

[kostika.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering jsut how you can copyright a phrase like "fair & balanced". What a bunch of idiots.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

Well, considering that about 95% of the media reporters confuse "copyright" and "trademark", it's probably supposed to be the latter. You can trademark a phrase.

Now, they still shouldn't have a leg to stand on, because even if they have a trademark on it, that doesn't mean that no one else can use the words... it means that no other professional news organization could use it without infringing on the trademark. (And even then, they could try it, and if FOX did nothing, then they haven't defended their trademark, and it pretty much goes away.)

Regardless, this case should be dismissed PDQ. Hell, it should be laughed out of court, but given that TNN (another U.S. network) had to settle with Spike Lee for an undisclosed amount so they could change the name of the network to Spike TV, there are apparently two types of logic. Normal logic, and legal logic. Although I suspect the latter is an oxymoron.

[the-paco.livejournal.com]

I like Frankens responses though.