At 10:08 AM 7/8/2003 -0500, Marcia Keyser wrote:
I am looking for stories to perk up my regular class session on copyright
basics. Can anyone share humorous or interesting stories, anecdotes,
cases, situations, etc, that can be shared in a college class?
TIA,
1. The only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter
is uncopyrightable.
2. Years ago, in the 1970s, a friend of mine, an attorney, worked for NBC
and was assigned to oversee the legal implications and potential liability
to NBC of the mini-dramas performed on the Saturday Night Live show. On one
occasion they planned to broadcast a skit that parodied the Hell's Angels.
In it a group of bikers rode into town and wrought mayhem by pillaging the
town and raping its inhabitants. My friend allowed it to be broadcast --
after all, he thought, they were part of the American scene, and parody is
generally accepted on the air. Anyway, SNL's stock-and-trade is in parody
of people and groups. What was different about this one?
The next Monday he receives a call from a Park Avenue attorney who says he
represents the Hell's Angels. They had a problem with the skit, were angry,
and wanted some kind of compensation.
A meeting was scheduled for that Friday afternoon (which turned out to
precede a three-day weekend). The office was already empty when the Hell's
Angels' attorney entered, flanked by two huge intimidating Angels.
Sensing the potential for danger, my friend immediately called down to
order a huge bunch of sandwiches and assorted foodstuffs.
In the subsequent conversation, they revealed that they did not object to
the way they were depicted, but rather to the fact that, for the skit, the
Saturday Night Live crew made substantially precise reproductions of their
copyrighted and trade-marked designs used on their leather jackets, and had
used them without license.
The food and my friend's flattery worked magic. The Angels agreed not to
press the issue -- this time -- but warned SNL not to repeat the offense.
For months afterward my attorney friend took special note of every loud
motorcycle that passed by his home.
Sometimes copyright is more important than anything else -- except food.
===========================
Robert A. Baron
mailto:robert@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.studiolo.org