Fox Drops Infringement Suit Against Franken
1 hour, 27 minutes ago
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By Gail Appleson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fox News on Monday dropped its trademark
infringement lawsuit against Al Franken and his publisher, Penguin Group,
that aimed to stop sales of the liberal satirist's new book but instead turned
it into a top seller.
Indeed, Penguin's Dutton unit said that due to
heavy demand for the book it has orders to print
510,000 copies of "Lies and the Lying Liars
Who Tell Them" as of Monday up from the
original 270,000. The book now leads
Amazon.com's bestseller list where if flew in a
matter of days from a rank in the 400s thanks
to publicity over the Fox suit.
When asked to comment on its decision to
drop the case, a Fox spokeswoman said "It's
time to return Al Franken back to the normal
obscurity he's accustomed to."
The network's withdrawal of the case follows
strong criticism by a federal judge on Friday
when he refused to grant Fox's motion for an
order stopping sales of the book that mocks the
network and its host Bill O'Reilly.
Fox had charged in the suit that Franken had
violated its trademarked phrase "Fair and
Balanced" by including it on the cover of his
book. Fox is owned by News Corp. and
Penguin is a unit of Pearson .
The book had originally been scheduled for
release on Sept. 22, but Dutton had rushed the
book to stores last Thursday ahead of a any
ruling that could have delayed its release.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said the title
was clearly a parody protected by the First
Amendment. He said Fox's motion seeking the injunction was "wholly
without merit" and that its trademark was weak.
The judge also said he thought it ironic that a media company that should
be fighting to protect free speech would seek to undermine the First
Amendment.
Floyd Abrams, a lawyer for Franken and Penguin, said he received court
papers from Fox that it had dropped the case.
"The decision by Fox is welcome if overdue. The suit never should have
been brought," he said.
Fox argued during a hearing on Friday that the cover's tag line, "A Fair and
Balanced Look at the Right," was used to confuse consumers who might
think either Fox or O'Reilly were sponsoring the book.
But Chin pointed out that the word "Lies" in the title is printed in large red
letters next to a photo of O'Reilly. He said that there was no likelihood that
book buyers would be misled.
Chin also said that there was no evidence of bad faith by Franken to mislead
consumers into thinking he works for Fox.
"There is no intent by Franken to palm himself off as a Fox commentator,"
he said.
Franken, who won four Emmy awards for his work on "Saturday Night Live,"
is the author of four previous books, including the recent best seller, "Rush
Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot."
He is appeared on Monday as a substitute liberal co-host on the political
debate show "Crossfire," which airs on Fox rival CNN. |
