Barney vs. Right to Satire 259
blkros writes "Looks like Barney isn't so lovable after all, or at least his lawyers aren't, as this article at Wired shows. They are starting to bring action against web sites that disparage the "lovable", purple dinosaur." The specific case they talk about is a page listing a hundred ways to kill a purple dinosaur, which strikes me as pretty fair satire (and a justifiable cause).
Re:Cool reply (Score:2)
...phil
What's a Soccer Mom? [Re:The Pseudo Pro-Children] (Score:2)
I keep seeing references to it from Americans mostly but I don't know what it means. What's the difference between a Soccer mom and a regular Mom?
PS: yes, I know Americans call Football "Soccer". the relation to parenting escapes me. could someone explain?
Apparently Lyons already tried the lawyers... (Score:2)
They've known about the group for some time... (Score:2)
As for activity... One can always go and check [die.die] it for yourself.
Purple Dinos (Score:2)
Dead.
Re:But... (Score:2)
You can download it here [electricgames.com]
It's a regular activity at home. When the kids are asleep.
Karma karma karma karma karmeleon: it comes and goes, it comes and goes.
Re:Not quite. (Score:2)
>are more businessmen there now than lawyers.
But businessmen are easily intimidated by lawyers, since a lawsuit means a loss of money no matter who wins, and making money is what business is all about. Having more businessmen probably doesn't really change much, unfortunately.
And regarding Congress and its current crop of Representatives, here's a quick note to you Americans: If you're legally allowed to vote, and you don't, you don't deserve to celebrate the 4th of July. Shame on you.
Amazing. (Score:3)
Re:The Pseudo Pro-Children Argument (Score:2)
--
Re:Man (Score:2)
Barney *was* on the grassy knoll (Score:2)
Re:That annoying song (Score:2)
Re:Lets boycott the purple scoundrel (Score:3)
Don't tell us, tell Lyons. Write them a letter and tell them why.
Re:What's a Soccer Mom? [Re:The Pseudo Pro-Childre (Score:2)
Re:Not quite. (Score:2)
A spoiled ballot is still a vote, it's just a different kind of vote.
--G
They shut down my site months ago (Score:5)
It seems that they went for higher profile sites first, particularily the ones that criticized the educational content of the show. I just decided to take the site down and not try to bother fighting it as I'm in Canada and don't have the time or the resources to fight this.
You can view the whole letter here [nbnet.nb.ca]. Maybe if enough people protest, I'll put the site back up somewhere else. However, if you look through Yahoo's Barney section here [yahoo.com], you'll see plenty of infringement on the fan pages. The fan pages are much more blantantly infringing than any of the stuff I put up. Don't they have to threaten everybody that infringes, or else it won't hold up in court?
Yahoo has delisted many of the now removed sites under the "Anti-Barney" category. At one time there were close to 20 of them.
Re:What's really sad... (Score:2)
--
Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness.
Re: Unauthorized Use of Intellectual Property (Score:2)
BY SLASHDOT
Re: Unauthorized Use of Intellectual Property
Dear Sir or Madam:
This firm is counsel to Lyons Partnership, L.P. ("Lyons Partnership"), the owners of the exclusive right to use the copyrighted children's dinosaur character Barney® as well as the federally registered and famous trademark and service mark Barney.
It has come to the attention of Lyons Partnership that you are operating a website found at URL:
www.cybercheeze.com/humor/list/31.html.
We have reviewed your website and have concluded that it incorporates the use and threat of violence towards the children's character Barney without permission from Lyons Partnership.
As a result of Lyons Partnership's continuous promotion of the Barney character, Barney has come to be recognized as a distinctive and famous trademark and service mark. Lyons Partnership vigorously objects to the unsavory and unwholesome content that you have associated with its trademark and service mark Barney. The content that you have placed on your website, used in conjunction with the federally registered and famous trademark and service mark Barney, including all relevant hyperlinks to third-party websites, constitutes a violation of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 1125(c)(1). By associating the Barney trademark with violence, your website tarnishes the distinctive qualities of the trademark and service mark Barney. Remedies available to Lyons Partnership based upon a violation of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act include a permanent injunction, damages, costs and attorneys' fees.
Your actions also constitute direct copyright infringement, and make you subject to injunction and liable to Lyons Partnership for its damages, costs and attorneys' fees. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 501(a), "anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 118, or of the author as provided in 106(a), is an infringer of the copyright or right of the author.." Lyons Partnership hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist from diluting its trademark Barney, as well as reproducing, distributing, performing by means of digital audio transmission, displaying, or in any other way infringing upon Lyons Partnership's copyrights.
Lyons Partnership is prepared to pursue all available remedies to protect its intellectual property rights. However, Lyons Partnership will refrain from taking immediate legal action upon condition that you provide written assurances by June 27, 2001, that you have ceased and desisted from diluting the trademark and service mark Barney, as well as reproducing, distributing, performing by means of digital audio transmission, or displaying the copyrighted character Barney. Your written assurances must also state that you have removed all web page content relating to the unlawful use of the Barney trademarks or copyrights as well as any links to the official Barney website. We await an immediate response from you or your counsel.
Sincerely,
GIBNEY, ANTHONY & FLAHERTY, LLP
By: atthew W. Carlin
--
Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness.
Re:But... (Score:2)
Re:I hate you ... (Score:2)
You hate me,
Let's tie Barney to a tree!
Then we'll take a
And shoot him in the head,
Now that purple fag is dead!
--
Re:They should be prosecuted for murder 2d degree. (Score:2)
--
Re:It makes you think (Score:4)
Three letters:
EFF [eff.org]
(My monthly charitable donation goes to them, and they get everything in my will. Kids want money? They'll have to work for it just like I did. *That* is capitalism.)
Cool reply (Score:5)
Re:SNL = NBC = General Electric (Score:2)
That annoying song (Score:2)
If they didn't, it's ok for them to steal, but not ok for us to criticize them?
I loved the cybercheese response, and agree totally with the poster who suggested a federal version of the SLAPP law.
sung to the tune "This Old Man" (Score:2)
For the record, my kids watched Barney and I thought the show was fine (at least until the massive proliferation of nasal-talking puppets on the show; I have a violent hatred of nasal-talking puppets). Anyhow, my kids now primarily enjoy Thomas the Tank Engine and Peanuts.
Make money FAST - for lawyers (Score:2)
It seems that some legal firms have found a new "make money - FAST" -scheme. IMO the interesting part is to see how long it will take, until the clients will realize that they'll be paying not only the huge legal costs but also the bad publicity caused by these cases.
Wendy R. Leibowitz summerized it well in her article. [wendytech.com]
As a sidenote: Attrition.org is also under fire because of the alleged trademake violation - they are hosting some priceless-campaing parodies and the lawyers of MasterCard still haven't got anything better to do...Link [attrition.org]
Ville
My DeCSS archive:
Re:What's a Soccer Mom? [Re:The Pseudo Pro-Childre (Score:2)
Kill all the lawyers (Score:2)
Do your part, shoot or hang a lawyer each day. Better yet, go on a shooting spree at the closest law school! You'll be sure to kill off lots of them, and before they get a chance to create problems like the DMCA or CDA or COPA or you name it.
Acutally come to think of it politicians were in on all that too, so lets be sure and kill them off too.
(If you think I'm serious then you're too crazy to be reading slashdot)
Lee
This reminds me of Day of the Barney... (Score:2)
Message-ID:
Newsgroup: alt.tv.dinosaurs.barney.die.die.die
Organization: Macalester College
DAY OF THE BARNEY
Mrs. Thompson kissed her two children, Jenny and Robby, and sat them before the
television set. Their eyes widened and gleamed as the picture faded in,
revealing the one who had become a dear and cherished friend over the last few
months. Mrs. Thompson smiled at their captivated wonder, and went to the
kitchen to prepare dinner. As she readied the vegetables for stir-fry, she
peered into the living room and watched the blubbery, purple dinosaur prance
and roll across the screen.
"Silly fat reptile," she muttered, and went back to her preparations.
If Jenny and Robby were annoyed by her remark, they made no sign of it.
Instead, they listened and watched in rapt attention to Barney the Dinosaur,
who was being broadcast live from the nation's capital. The plaza was filled
with thousands of wide-eyed youths, who wriggled and squirmed for a closer look
at the Purple One. Off to the wings, the green dinosaur known as Baby Bop
giggled and preened, occasionally blowing a kiss to the children in the crowd.
Finally, following a light song and dance about sharing, Barney sauntered up to
the podium and spoke:
"Hello, all my friends out there! I'm so happy you could make it to my special
concert. Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
Children worldwide simultaneously burst, "I love you too, Barney!"
The Purple One giggled and for a moment appeared to blush. "Love is such a
wonderful thing. Especially the love you and I share for each other. I also
want you to know how much of a special friend you are to me. Are you my friend
also?"
The response was thunderous, rising from the kids in the plaza, across the
living rooms scattered across the nation.
"YES!!!"
"Well, that's wonderful!" reeled Barney. "But do you know what, kids? I have
something really, really sad to tell you." He sighed, letting his immense,
dead eyes roll to the floor. "Not everyone is Barney's friend....some people
don't even want you to be my friend."
Protests and cries began to rise collectively within the entranced mass. The
Beast of Purple quieted them with a raise of his hand. He continued:
"There are people who don't want me to love you, and want to take you away from
me. These people are very bad, and want to hurt your loving friend Barney.
Some of them may be people who are very close to you. But do you know what?"
The audience of children silently yet anxiously awaited the answer. An unholy
stillness had fallen upon the crowd. Many of the adults began to feel
isolated, targeted.....unwelcome.
"None of them, not a single one, loves you as much as I do. I'm your only real
friend in the world. I really love you, I do! But these bad people don't.
Some of them may be your neighbors. Some of them may be your teachers. And
some of them....."
"Who, Barney, who?!?" shrieked a young girl from a barricade.
"...some of them may be _your_ parents!"
Children began screaming and crying instantaneously, their teeth and fists
clenched in rage. Security guards who had been trying to keep the children
back behind the lines began to fidget uneasily, as the sea of wide-eyed,
growling, gurgling children began rising against them. Some guards broke from
the line and ran down the street, screaming frantically. Others tried to push
the youngsters back but were pulled in by grasping, clawing hands.
The cries were horrible.
One guard, as he was being simultaneously crushed and pulled apart by the
mindless horde, looked back upon the stage. The Purple One and his green
sidekick were laughing and dancing demonically about the platform, which was
now spattered with blood and torn clothing. Next moment the world went dark
and the guard was lost forever amidst the torrent of violence and unholy
chanting...
I love you, you love me.....let me have your family.....with
a quick stab or kick, we'll set the children free....don't you
know you were meant for me.....
Mrs. Thompson finished washing the vegetables and figured either Jenny or Robby
could take out the trash. She walked out into the living room only to notice
the children were gone and the TV station was giving a dull, whining tone and a
test pattern.
"Jenny? Robby? Are you here anywhere?"
Perhaps they've gone outside, she thought. She returned to the kitchen and
looked upon the counter. Her tinsel-steel paring and slicing knives were gone.
But they were there just a moment ago, she thought. Then, just as a flash of
steel slashed across her legs and another just above her waist, she heard a
muffled giggle and caught a glimpse of purple and green out the corner of her
eye. She collapsed into a pile of her own entrails and blood, her life seeping
into the tile. As the world faded to a lifeless grey, she heard a familiar
tune sung by two familiar voices...
"I love you, you love me... Let us join with Lord Barney... With a great big kiss and
hug, from me to you.... Let's purge the world of adults too...."
Mrs. Thompson stopped breathing.
"He's NOT a silly fat reptile!"
Re:This reminds me of Day of the Barney... (Score:2)
Re:Make money FAST - for lawyers (Score:2)
The London Underground CANNOT trade in New York, unless someone builds a particularly long extension to the district line. Is ANYONE going to go into a restaunt in New York and think they can get off at Oxford Circus?
Re:On the other hand... (Score:2)
If the price is right.
It's a corporation first and a children's entertainer second. Think Disney.
Not quite. (Score:5)
Not only that, the government is made up of the people--and it's not true that 90% of the people are lawyers.
If the American public really wanted that sort of legal reform, rest assured, the American public would get it. When the American public wakes up from its slumber and tells the politicians, very clearly, what they're going to do or else, politicians scurry to obey the great Leviathan that's the body politic.
Unfortunately, 90% of Americans can't be bothered to give a damn about anything in law or government.
That's where the real tragedy is.
The way to fight this... (Score:2)
Re:Laser printers can be tracked. (Score:2)
That's what Kinko's is for...
> Anyway, as I understand it, the same technology is used in at least some printers.
That's what cybercafe's are for...
> Then they can trace back to you
That's what paying your printer with cash is for... And I hope your didn't send in that stoopid warranty registration card, did you?
> Impersonating a lawyer is a pretty big offense because prosecuters and judges are both lawyers.
Don't impersonate any existing lawyer. Make up a name. If the lawyer doesn't exist, he can't sue you. And the ISP will be too embarrassed to press any charges... And I also doubt that Big Brother will display his tracking capabilities just for investigating petty pranks. He prefers bigger fish to fry.
Re:It makes you think (Score:2)
The same mark can be registered by multiple organizations, as long as the trademarks are for different industries. Eg. if you make "Barney" spoons, you'd be in trouble. But if you made "Barney" motor oil, you'd be okay.
--
Re:On the stand (Score:5)
I sue you, you sue me,
You can't afford our lawyers' fee,
With a nasty letter from Dewey, Cheatem, Howe,
Up your ass our landsharks plow!
(Gotta problem with that, you big fat purple fuck? Bring it on, motherfucker, bring it on...)
SNL (Score:2)
Just my $.02
But... (Score:3)
Let's piss EVERYONE off... (Score:5)
You love me,
Let's recite from OT III
Uh, oh! There's a nasty cluster of Body Thetans on you, Barney!
Let's kill them with a Tom Cruise Missile!
Holy Xenu! You killed Barney! YOU BASTARDS!
Aw, too bad. Anyway, here's the Teletubbies to sing you the DeCSS source code song. Let's
all sing along!
k., before coffee.
--
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people
are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
What's really sad... (Score:5)
It will be interesting to see the first site that moves to rotten.com. My guess is they'll let it stand, knowing they haven't the legal stump of a leg to stand upon to take it any further than nastygrams.
Hope you get moderated to +6 for that genius post! (Score:2)
Gee, Sorry Anonymous Coward... (Score:2)
Don't joke about killing Barney... (Score:3)
In short, there's a palpable risk that he could could be re-engineered into a species infinitely more corny and terrifying than we could possibly imagine.
(p.s. - if any of you Internet comedians steal my idea about making a Jurassic Park parody with scientists building a theme park populated with genetically-engineeried enhancements of Barney, H.R. Puf-N-Stuf, the Banana Splits, or whatever... I'll sue for infringement.... In the spirit of this news thread...)
(well, maybe not. but could you at least throw CATS into the mix somehow?)
Barney knows he can't win this (Score:2)
I know that, back in the 80's, Nintendo was sued by Universal Pictures [tendobox.com] for using the word "Kong" in Donkey Kong. They also sued Coleco, for the ColecoVision version. Nintendo won that case, saying that not only did Universal no longer own the copyright to King Kong, it knew that it didn't because of a previous failed lawsuit. Then Nintendo countersued, and got big damages. It seems that this case is very similar.
Re:What's a Soccer Mom? [Re:The Pseudo Pro-Childre (Score:2)
Politicos like to shamelessly cater to them with "pro-children" legislation, regardless of minor details such as constitutionality or logic, because that's a good way of getting their votes -- and because otherwise, their votes aren't locked-in.
Re:The Pseudo Pro-Children Argument (Score:5)
Barney by AD&D Rules
Barney
Climate/Terrain: Nine Hells, Gehenna, Hades, The Abyss, PBS
Frequency: Very rare or daily at 4 pm
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Day
Diet: Little children's minds
Intelligence: Insipid (-12)
Treasure: Merchandising contracts
Alignment: Purple evil
No. appearing: 1 (may be attended by 1-100 Barney zombies, see below)
Armor class: 10 (big and plush)
Movement: 3
Hit dice: 8
THAC0: 12
No. of attacks: 2
Damage/attack: 1-10 (x2)
Special attacks: Hug (damage 3-30)
Special defenses: Aura of intolerable idiocy
Magic resistance: 90%
Size: L (8' tall)
Morale: Stupid (30)
XP value: 4,000
Barney is a demon from the lower planes, a great purple and plush deformed dinosaur. It is the enemy of intelligent lifeforms, eternally seeking out small children and feeding on their natural intelligence and curiousity.
Combat: Barney will normally attack with it's two great paws, each inflicting 1-20 points of damage. If a victim is struck with either paw and fails a saving throw versus paralyzation, they are dragged to Barney and may be hugged next round. A hug inflicts 3-30 points of damage each round until the victim or Barney is killed.
Barney may also utter a 'Power word "I love you"' once every three rounds. Any adults hearing the power word must save versus spells or flee in terror for 1-6 rounds. Any child hearing the power word must save versus spells or be controlled by Barney. He or she will thereafter follow Barney's commands with a delightful smile, and is subject to continued brainwashing. Each day that a child is in Barney's control they may be taught another lesson by Barney, decreasing their intelligence and wisdom by 1. When either stat reaches zero, the child becomes a mindless Barney zombie! Barney zombies follow his commands with love and a delightful smile, and eagerly spend gold coins on Barney merchandise.
Barney is constantly surrounded by an aura of intolerable idiocy. Any individual within 20' must save versus spells once per round or lose 1 point of intelligence. When intelligence reaches zero, the victim falls to the ground in a quivering, gibbering wreck. Intelligence may be regained at the rate of 1 point per day afterwards. In addition, the aura tends to make spells go awry, tactics to fail, and mundane items to become intelligent with their own insipid personalities.
Habitat/Society: Barney resides in a great temple and television studio on the lowest plane of the Abyss, with areas extending into every lower plane and prime material plane via transdimensional gates. He is constantly surrounded there by 1-100 Barney zombies clutching plush dolls and lollipops, which they may use as +2 maces in combat.
-From CyberLost, via AOL; original Bitnet post by Hellraiser
Slow Response? (Score:2)
Heck, I had a tshirt that said "Kill Barney" and it's been long enough ago that that tshirt got holes, became a rag, and even outlived its usefulness as a rag.
It looks like alt.barney.dinosaur.die.die.die is still around. How about "Night of the Barney"? and all of its sequels that floated around usenet for forever? Surely that is a little more defaming that a site that displays ways of killing purple dinosaurs. Can you still find Barney WAD files for Doom? By this point, there would be thousands of people to sue...
If I write these things, will they sue slashdot? (Score:2)
Barney started world war I when he shot Archduke Francis Ferdinand
Barney did not speak out against against the Nazi's during the Holocaust
Barney was on the grass knoll
Barney invented AIDS
Barney sold arms to the contras
Barney is depleting the ozone layer
Barney is responsible for the trouble in the tech sector
Barney and the purple teletubby were seen going to an "exclusive" resort in Palm Springs with Bert and Earnie, and were later joined by C3PO and R2D2
Barney is the anti-christ.
Did I leave anything out?
Hey Kids! We Have a New Song Today! (Score:5)
You'll get it if you diss Barney!
Hey kids! Our word of the days is "Lawsuit!" Later on in the show you'll watch me use some lawyers to stick my giant purple dick in some people in court! Won't that be special? Everyone's doing it! Got a problem with a bully on school grounds? Get a lawyer! Did your sister take that 5 cents you had in your piggy bank? Get a lawyer! Someone call you some names? Get a lawyer! It doesn't matter if you win or lose if you're a giant corporate dinosaur! You can bankrupt them with legal fees and the results are about the same!
Re:Not so cool reply! (Score:3)
This paragraph is the confusing part,
You are granted permission to link up CyberCheeze from your Web site, as long as you use only the Logos provided. All use of other graphical elements for linking to the CyberCheeze Web site without explicit prior permissions is illegal. By downloading the Logo, you fully agree to the Policies set herein.
The first sentence is very poorly written, but I interpret this to mean that if you want to link to this site using a graphic logo, you have to user their logo and you have to abide by the policies set down here. This says nothing about text links.
Forget About Barny.... (Score:2)
More Barney abuse (Score:3)
Mr Cranky. Another film review site.
Funny, bitchy, and beating on Barney [mrcranky.com].
Re:Not quite. (Score:2)
*snip*
Unfortunately, 90% of Americans can't be bothered to give a damn about anything in law or government.
By this argument, the government isn't really "made up of the people". It's made up of the 10% who give a crap.
Unfortunately the people who care enough to get involved are the people who have something significant to lose or gain. Many would say that American's rights and freedoms are significant in this respect, but this is not supported by the actions and involvement of the American people as applied to politics. What does appear to be significant are money and power. If you look at the political and legal history of this country; career politicians are mostly lawyers and businessmen...the money and power hungry. This is supported, in no small measure, by continuing trends in political conflict. When these conflicts involve the "10%", the issues are consistently about money or power. When the conflict manages to involve the "90%" it's almost always because of a flagrant, repercussive, and wide-ranging abuse of political power.
If an abuse of power doesn't manage to achieve a "critical mass" of public awareness, involvement, and concern (i.e. Roe v. Wade); then it will remain the purview of only the "10%"(i.e. intellectual property law). They will continue to occasionally tackle minor issues to throw the rest of the People a bone, and use the major issues to give us the Bone.
The only recourse of the American People is organized, aggressive political activism on a large-scale to enable public involvement. This needs to be done for any and all issues that we the People wish to address.
Sadly, this requires effort. "We the People" are notoriously lazy and unwilling to devote this effort to the process of governing ourselves. "We" are content to leave the entirety of our nation to the 10%, as long as we can bitch and moan when it gets too constricting.
satire (Score:5)
clerk: yes judge?
judge: do we still have that first amendment
thingy hanging around?
clerk: we do.
judge: case dismissed.
The Worm Turns (Score:2)
Now you've gone and done it! (Score:2)
Incidentally, take a look at the wording of that letter - does it mean that if you get permission from Lyons partnership then you can threaten to maim and kill Barney all you want?
Read the letter: it also attacks the link! (Score:2)
Does this imply that linking to a site dilutes the trademark? Does this mean that the lawyers feel it right and proper to try and enforce who may and may not link to their client's site?
Re:Not quite. (Score:2)
--Fesh
Re:What's a Soccer Mom? [Re:The Pseudo Pro-Childre (Score:2)
Face it, American Football players are pansies. They wear a suit of padded armor to take the same hits that a soccer player takes on a tackle wearing only shinguards and a cup. Soccer safer than football? Hah!
--Fesh
The pot calling the kettle black? (Score:2)
The Pseudo Pro-Children Argument (Score:3)
BTW, the above is sarcasm. However, I could quite easily forsee that at least part of the argument made by the lawyers on behalf of the trademark owners would be that kids looking for Barney stuff on the web could possibly come across disictions of violence against Barney, Barney and Friend in adult situations, etc.
Unfortunatly, if you get a jury pool full of soccer moms, this may easily work. There are many who do want to sanitize every corner of the world so they don't have to do any actual parenting, because otherwise they wouldn't have time for Amway and Starbucks Coffee between running their kids to soccer practice and holding Tupperware parties. After all, it takes a village, and we're all part of that village whether we want to be or not. :-(
--
sue them! sue them! (Score:2)
I'm sure many people remember mattel going apeshit over Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' song.
You just ain't 'leet without a load of lawyers.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
Barney Blarney old hat (Score:2)
Re:Now you've gone and done it! (Score:3)
Re:we have seen this before. (Score:2)
But of course, the lawyers will pick on the little guy to send a message to all the other little guys. Like with Felton, the RIAA didn't expect Felton to fight back. When he did, their response was, oh, we didn't mean it.
Re:How about... (Score:2)
Definition: A piece of wire used to garrote a victim. Here is the definition [about.com]
Columbian necktie
Definition: When a persons throat is slit from ear to ear and the person's tougue is pulled out though the incesion to resemble a necktie.
SealBeater
Barney song... (Score:2)
with an AK-47, he won't be going' to heav'n...
won't you say you'll shoot him too o/~
Re:What's a Soccer Mom? [Re:The Pseudo Pro-Childre (Score:2)
You have almost all of it. There is one additional element: when the term "soccer mom" is used by a conservative (someone to the political "right" in the States) it also implies that there is an element of hand-wringing "what about the children" liberal nonsense to the person.
To someone on the left, all that hand-wringing and wailing about the children is the foundation of their political belief and is taken seriously.
[ducking!]
Re:What's really sad... (Score:2)
OK, its relatively unlikely, but entirely possible.
Now go make a donation.
Re:What's really sad... (Score:3)
Being realistic a webhoster deals in quantity, thousands of sites and dropping off a couple of customers to this is MUCH less expensive and doesn't really touch the bottom line; than dragging up log files, going to court, etc. Also being realistic if the ISP has good prices, good service, good performance, etc. with their only fault being that in a legal case they wash their hands of the problem... well that's not going to cause a mass exodus and kill them off.
Just being a bit realistic, in what $20/month buys you, if you want your ISP to take on some of that risk you had better make it financially attractive to the ISP.
People need to grow up (so to speak) (Score:2)
I'm not necessarily defending the tactics here, but it's gotten fashionable to try and destroy anything related to childhood. I simply don't understand it. Why can't people just let children enjoy a silly, purple dinosaur without feeling the need to "kick over the sand castle"?
The best comment I ever heard about this was one of the producers talking to a TV Guide reporter about barney. The reporter was making the typical disparaging remarks, and the producer simply said "You have to remember, it's not intended for you. Why would you think you would enjoy it?
That was a brilliant response. The next time you feel like disparing Barney or any other popular toddler character (of course, "popular" is the reason many hate it), just repeat to yourself: "it's not intended for me" and back off.
--
Re:They shut down my site months ago (Score:2)
It seems that they went for higher profile sites first, particularily the ones that criticized the educational content of the show. I just decided to take the site down and not try to bother fighting it as I'm in Canada and don't have the time or the resources to fight this.
You can view the whole letter here. Maybe if enough people protest, I'll put the site back up somewhere else.
Hi, I'm J. Castro but you may call me "somewhere else". The aforementioned site is back at http://barney.isverybad.com/ [isverybad.com].
Re:It makes you think (Score:2)
Some random (presumably trademarked) common names/terms:
Think of trademarks kind of like a (more properly run) set of domain names. You have to be actively using it to claim it. You only get an entry in the TLDs that directly relate to your product. So "wendys.food" is exclusive to the Wendy's corporation, but wouldn't have much of a claim if Wendy Johnson wanted to open "Wendy's Car Repair".
In general, trademarks seem to be (at least in my understanding) one of the better-run intellectual property things. I think they just get a bad rap due to the unfortunate interaction between trademarks and domain registries (where all commercial entities have been more-or-less lumped together in .com).
Slumbering, dundering, wandering... (Score:5)
the american public in the late eighteenth century did not awaken in righteous anger and throw off the oppressive chains of the United Kingdom. there was no spontaneous consciousness-raising en masse. rather, the intellectuals of the time -- businessmen, public servants, lawyers -- published many persuasive texts over a period of time that provided an ideological foundation upon which vast amounts of human resources could be laid, body stacked upon body, to forcefully settle the argument.
the People, as conceived by dreamy-eyed libertymongers, simply does not exist. the People is a convenient fiction called into being at various times in history to suit the whims of intellectuals [who worship ideas above the People], revolutionaries [who worship violence above the People], and large-scale social forces [which serve the interests of nobody and nothing save survival probabilities]. the People is variously hardworking, honest, stupid, delusional, downtrodden, longsuffering, lazy, avaricious, hopeless, helpless, heartless, and directionless. the People is a blind golem. it knows neither what it wants nor how best to obtain the few things it can coherently conceive. numberless infinities of cells flake off your body and die every day as part of natural functioning. oppression, genocide, deception -- these are operational processes of the Body Politic which you idolize so zealously.
there will be no Great Awakening of the American Public.
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Re:What's really sad... (Score:3)
People don't want Judges to judge - that much power in a single pair of hands scares Americans. And everybody is out for himself, not caring how a decision might affect the rest of the people - only thinking of getting money from a settlement or judgement.
Lawyers only fall in the blame through the fact of the kind of cases they will take and argue. If no lawyer would take a frivolous case (like against Barney insults - an obvious Freedom of Speech issue) then frivolous cases would not exist.
Judges, even when they're allowed to exercise their authority (which isn't all the time) are unsure of how much authority they actually have and generally let the jury take responsibility for judgements.
Politicians get the blame for everything (of course) but here, since law originates in the political process, they have the capability to instill reason - not rules, but reason - and they don't. That's why laws keep getting longer and longer. Take those IP laws that these Barney proponents are using in their scare tactics - the original copyright law took less than a single page. Current copyright law is something like 150 pages, most of which is devoted to the details of how the rules work, precisely. Such laws do not easily move through time - old technologies fade away, making entire portions obsolete and new technologies require new additions.
Law is not supposed to be a cancerous growth that chokes the life out of a society. It is supposed to be a guideline, set out in generalities, reflective of the people agreeing to its tenents.
usenet groups and archives (Score:2)
It should be interesting to see what the lawyers plan to [try to] do with the usenet group:
Not just current/future postings, but also consider all the posts to it which have been archived or just put on regular back-up tapes world-wide. Just send your favorite newsreader to that group, or fire up a browser to look at google's group search page: http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search [google.com] (A search for "barney" in just that newsgroup brought up gobs of hits.)Will google become a target for the lawyers, too?
Disclaimer: I don't know how active the group is, and my current connection is so slow I've not surfed newgroup posting in years, so I don't know how active the group currently is. Then again, with the lawyers' activities, it may experience a surge of popularity.
Re:What's really sad... (Score:2)
Not so cool reply! (Score:3)
http://www.cybercheeze.com/info/logolink.html
It seems you can't link to them without using their logo. Does that make the above link illegal? I guess so. So while I liked the intent of Cybercheeze's reply, they're also pulling some lawyer crap of their own. Am I wrong? Is it illegal now to link to a site without permission?
Seriously, what's happening to our civilization when everything needs to be so regulated?
Re:EFF caved? Link gives 404 (Score:2)
Re:The Pseudo Pro-Children Argument (Score:2)
What we need to do: (Score:2)
Who knows... If every slashdotter wrote them one email a day AND printed out the email and sent it to them via the postal service, they might understand...
Of course then they might see such a market and then, in the name of profit, create "Barney and Friends Die" shows...
BarneySplat (Score:2)
You could also do it to the kids.
One of the first programs I wrote was this little game in VB where you killed barney in ever more creative ways, thus gaining more points.
That game... (Score:2)
On the stand (Score:2)
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Re:Big Bird (Score:3)
Re:How about... (Score:2)
Damn proud.
That's like being called a "religious bigot" by the Scientologists.
That means I'm living up to my Roman Catholic upbringing.
Re:How about... (Score:4)
That's a HELLUVA idea! I think I'll start such a list up on my personal home page tonight.
One thing's for sure, there IS no bad way to off a lawyer
Re:What's really sad... (Score:5)
That's the problem these days. Society is so litigious, to the point where you really DO have no rights unless you get a lawyer and go to court. None at all...
Why? Because of two things.
1. The lack of common decency. For some, unknown reason, it seems all people and especially corps feel that no one has the right to make fun of them or criticise them, Corps especially. And lawyers lack any sense of morals.
2. The legal system does NOTHING at all to discourage this. From judges on down to the bar.
We need some kind of Federal SLAPP law, one that imposes HARSH penalties on lawyers, and even JUDGES who become parties to such harassment. Unforunately, this is about as likely as Jack Valenti asking for the repeal of the DMCA.
Why? Who benefits from such threats and suits?
Lawyers.
Who makes up 90% of our government?
Layers.
Case closed.
Re:What's really sad... (Score:2)
1. "Loser pays" system in court, like the UK.
2. Require any lawyer sending out a threatening letter to deposit $500 into escrow, to cover the cost of hiring a lawyer to respond to it when the threats are unfounded. Taken together with the first item, this means that when a corp decides to threaten everyone who ridicules their ridiculous trademark, they have to plop down some money up front, and then either lose it or go to court and lose a lot more...
3. Someone other than a corporate hack appointing the judges to begin with. Difficult, considering that _both_ parties have been nominating nothing but corporate hacks for President since 1992...
Re:Not quite. (Score:2)
Being "allowed" to vote doesn't mean shit. Demanding a say in your own government is what counts. Unfortunately, we're too fat and stupified (as a Nation) to give a damn.
I guess we'll have to wait for the next international crisis (that isn't our government's fault) before we do something about bringing them to heel. Ironic, really, as it's only then that they'll get karma back for all the corporate cocksucking that is their fault and that we don't (as a Nation) care about right now.
Re:What's really sad... (Score:2)
Uh, I don't know of any ISP's that charge hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to Joe Sixpack.
What you're saying that is if you don't have any money, you don't have any protection. That's true, but that's also a shame, and I mean in a "that's a national shame" kind of way.
Re:satire (Score:2)
- judge: clerk?
- thingy hanging around?
Prosecution council: I just litigated me a new Porche, what did you get?clerk: yes judge?
judge: do we still have that first amendment
clerk: we do.
judge: case dismissed.
Defence council: Beach house in Aruba!
Re:If I write these things, will they sue slashdot (Score:2)
Yet another version of the Barney Song (Score:2)
I love you, You love me, We chased Barney up a tree, Got tha Buck shot out and let it roar! NO MORE PURPLE DINOSAUR...
Razzious Domini
Barneystein (Score:2)
Ahh, I can still remember games that fit on _one_ floppy disk *sniff, sniff*
But I digress... this is actually pretty scary and very much like Voltaire and what happened after he wrote Candide. Could this open up sites like THe Onion to attack even when they are being so outlandish? I read Candide in senior high school, so I want to know what schools in several hundred years will be teaching the Onion so I can send my descendants there.
Re:What's really sad... (Score:2)
This isn't society's problem, or a problem of decency, it's a concrete, specific problem with the US laws governing copyrights, trademarks, patents, personal injury, and the like. Copyrights, trademarks, and patents have extended far beyond their original intent, and they have become far more central to our society. Trying to fix such problems by an appeal to "decency" is futile.
We need some kind of Federal SLAPP law, one that imposes HARSH penalties on lawyers, and even JUDGES who become parties to such harassment.
Now that's an idea: create more opportunities for frivolous lawsuits.
No, the real solution is to clarify the law: rely less on legal precedent and interpretation and more on precise language. This also may mean taking away some rights. For example, to clarify trademark use, you might define any use in advertising of a trademark you don't own as "infringing", but define all other uses as "non-infringing"--much easier to adjudicate. Or, for medical malpractice, patients might get awarded damages and pain and suffering according to a fixed schedule by an arbitration board, but in return would not have to prove conclusively that the doctor actually made a mistake but merely present a plausible argument that this outcome should not have occurred with the procedure they have undergone.
Lowering the stakes is also another way of avoiding problems. If the choice is between bankruptcy or a 50-50 legal fight, people will pick the legal fight. If the choice is between an administrative fee that hurts and a 50-50 legal fight, many people will will probably choose the former.
It makes you think (Score:3)
Quite frankly, if such a case could be won, it would set a dangerous precedent. Imagine if you couldn't participate in M$ bashing on your website. Or for that matter, imagine if you couldn't participate in Linux-bashing. No trolling intended. Just two examples I thought would appeal to slashdot readers. But seriously: Some time ago, companies were given the right to advertise on TV that "their product was better than {insert specific brand name}." Would winning such a court case undo all of that?
I would think their case would hold water if we were talking about slandering a real person. But this is a "fictional" character on a TV program, and one that seems to almost invite animosity (for some inexplicable reason). What makes them think that we should give up our rights to free speech?
Somebody tell me where I can donate to the cause.
GreyPoopon
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On the other hand... (Score:5)
Is the logical implication of this that Lyons Partnership are prepared to give those who ask permission to brutally savage Barney?