That's it. The nation is officially going to hell in a handbasket.
Or, at least, the New York State Supreme Court is.
Then again:
"State Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub ordered Lee to post a $500,000 bond to cover Viacom's losses in case the company wins."
It's possible that Judge Tolub knows that Viacom will win and wants to stick Shelton for a half million.
That would be acceptable...except that Shelton needs to lose a half million and then be beaten with a rubber truncheon by Ted Danson.
The judge wrote,
"In the age of mass communication, a celebrity can in fact establish a vested right in the use of only their first name or a surname."
Really.
Guess that puts the big kabosh my plans to change this site to Keanukeifferbaldwin.com. Damn.
Bill.com? Nope...Shatner would come down on me like a hammer.
Arthur.com! Who's famous and named Arthur? Carney's dead...wait, isn't there a goofy animated hydrocephalic hamster named Arthur?
Feh. Feh, I say!
There's also the fictional character from that Dudley Moore movie. See, the next logical step will be for creators of popular fictional characters to sue over the use of their characters' names. I mean, don't you think Joss Whedon (creator of Spike the Buffy vampire babe) has a better argument in this situation that Mr. Lee does?
Posted by: Valencia | June 16, 2003 01:02 PM
Hey it's official. I saw a TNN promo last night, and it was "the new TNN" (the network's 'old' name) - no mention of Spike. Funny really, because while I thought Spike was a terrible name for a cable network, it never once occured to me to associate it with Spike Lee, about whose very existence I'd completely forgotten. Hmn. Maybe this whole lawsuit thing is just a ploy to remind us he exists. I can just hear it now:
"I didn't get an Academy Award because TNN confused people about my name!"
Posted by: Valencia | June 18, 2003 09:18 AM
PS. At least now I am spared having to endure those horrible commercials where some bloated yahoo is threatening to put a "spike through the heart" of Lifetime, We, and Oxygen. If the way to appeal to men is to offend women, they were gonna do great. Grrrrrrrrr.
Posted by: Valencia | June 18, 2003 09:20 AM