For years lawyers representing the owners of the children’s-show character Barney have been firing off cease-and-desist letters to parodists who’ve portrayed various forms of violence being visited on the purple dinosaur (see, for example, Jun. 25, 2001). Now one such exchange has escalated, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation has sued Lyons Partnership, owner of Barney rights, seeking a court’s declaration that Stuart Frankel is not committing infringement by publishing a Barney parody site. (Robert Ambrogi, Legal Blog Watch, Aug. 24). Update Nov. 30: Lyons backs off.
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In copyright; nastygrams; parody
Lawyers advise suing and not just sending letters. Why is that so foreseeable?
http://www.ali-aba.org/FreeArticles/CM017-Course.pdf
I thought that it was required that you notify someone who may be infringing on your material and give them a chance to voluntarily stop, before filing a lawsuit?
I wonder if Saturday Night Live will be sued for having Charles Barkley mangle a Barney looking critter on one of their shows?