Barney the Dinosaur saga
p2pnet.net News:- Since 2002, the Lyons Partnership has been sending Cease-and-Desist letters to Stuart Frankel because his site lampoons the infamous Barney the Purple Dinosaur, the appalling children’s TV character.
“Dr Frankel, assisted by EFF, responded to these letters in 2002 and 2005, but Barney’s lawyers have continued to harass him,” says the EFF.
Now, a lawsuit filed by Frankel wants a court to rule his parody doesn’t infringe Barney’s copyright or trademark rights.
“Barney’s lawyers are sending out intimidating lawyer letters to parody websites that are clearly protected by the First Amendment and fair use,” says the EFF’s (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Fred von Lohmann.
Meanwhile, “BARNEY IS TO CHILDREN AS OSAMA BIN LADEN IS TO ISLAM,” says Frankel from a link in his Small-But-Intense home page, going on:
“The children are an excuse, the innocent means to a perverse end. Barney’s true prey is adults or at least their money. The claim of wholesomeness would be more convincing if the Barney Creature were not so relentlessly pushing an astonishing array of merchandise, and if its creators were not so obviously energetic in their pursuit of money. The Creature’s profits have already been the subject of the stupidly named ‘Barneygate‘ (summary: PBS subsidizes Barney, partly with taxpayer money, while Barney’s parents stuff their pockets), but Sheryl Leach’s tender maternal instincts did not preclude her selling her offspring to a British law firm. “I love you, you sell me.”
“MORE! MORE! The Barney Creature is a voracious, bottomless pit. All who oppose it with ridicule must be destroyed. The Barney Creature’s weapon of choice is the Legal Absurdity which seems to have been honed to a dull edge by a Darwinian process – that is, with no controlling intelligence – and the Creature wields it with the finesse of Wile E. Coyote®. First the Barney Creature took aim at a chicken, and shot itself twice. The San Diego Chicken, in costume, would beat up Barney, also in costume, for entertainment. Barney sued, and the fight was metaphorically re-enacted in the courtoom, as a federal judge summarily dismissed the suit. Eager for another beating, Barney appealed, and wound up having to pay the chicken’s legal costs.”
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August 24th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
It looks like the next new Barney dance to come will be The Goose Step. BTW, those who’ve seen The San Diego Chicken’s satirical dance-off and comical slap fight routine with Barney know it’s worth the price of admission to a ballgame alone.