"WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO FAIR USE? OOH YEAH!"



Oh boo frickin' hoo, Mr Ailes:

NEW YORK - Fox News Channel has sued liberal humorist Al Franken and the Penguin Group to stop them from using the phrase "fair and balanced" in the title of his upcoming book.

Filed Monday in Manhattan, the trademark infringement lawsuit seeks a court order forcing Penguin to rename the book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." It also asks for unspecified damages.

Fox News registered "Fair & Balanced" as a trademark in 1995, the suit says.

Franken's "intent is clear - to exploit Fox News' trademark, confuse the public as to the origins of the book and, accordingly, boost sales of the book," the suit said.

Right.

Nice try, guys. For the Faux-News mouthbreathers, I'll go slowly: It's . . . a . . . parody! And thus, it's fair use, and the law is squarely on Mr Franken's side.

Of course, if Bill O'Reilly covers the lawsuit the long enough, who knows, he might win another Peabody Polk award!

"Fox News: Fair and Balanced As Thin-skinned as Savage"

UPDATE: Good work, Fox! Guess who's number one in Amazon's nonfiction rankings.

UPDATE II: Kos has some relevant legal passages regarding trademarks