Fox Sues Al Franken For Use Of Phrase "Al Franken"

NewsHax ^ | 9.25.03

[Cathryn Crawford]

Fox Sues Al Franken For Use Of Phrase "Al Franken"

NewsHax wire -- On Monday, the Fox News Network filed a lawsuit against comedian and author Al Franken for his use of the phrase "Al Franken." In court papers, the network alleges that it owns the copyright to the name and wants to stop publication of Franken's new book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."

In the court papers filed in Manhattan's State Supreme Court by Fox, the network claims that it copyrighted the phrase "Al Franken" in April of 1998. The lawsuit also claims that Al Franken's face mimics the look and style of the Fox News Network. It insists that Franken is trying to confuse the public into mistaking Al Franken for popular Fox talk-show host Bill O'Reilly.

Fox's lawsuit seeks to block Penguin Books from publishing Al Franken's book, and also demands that Al Franken change his name and undergo plastic surgery to change his appearance from a nerdy middle-aged Jewish man to perhaps a hundred-year old Eskimo woman.

[freedumb2003]

In related news:

• Hadyn Fox sued Fox broadcasting for the use of the name "Fox"
• Hayden Frye sued Hadyn Fox for the use of the name "Hayden"
• Satan sued both Hadyn Frye and Hadyn Fox for the use of the name "Hadyn" which, he claims, is derivative of "Hades." Editor's Note: Satan is expected to win since he has 100% of the lawyers...

[Paleo Conservative]

I guess that would include the "Al Franken Decade" too.

[Still Thinking]

Being Jewish, what if Franken marries Leah Stein? Would the kids be Daniel and Moishe Franken-Stein?

[Cathryn Crawford]

Anything that Franken produces would be horrid enough.

[IronJack]

While I don't think "Al Franken" is a copyrighted phrase, and thus, its unauthorized use is not actionable, its use IS poor taste, and considered by many to be as offensive as any four-letter word.

As in the sentence: "I woke up after a night of drinking Old Milwaukee Light and the first thing I had to do was take an Al Franken so nasty the EPA sent me a subpoena."

[Sir Gawain]

You stealing my satire sources? :-)~

[Hank Rearden]

Sounds Islamic to me. "Habib Al Franken", noted terrorist killer. For instance

[nutmeg]

FoxFan ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Red Barr]

Mr. Freedom of speech or the brown shirts of 2004:

January 27, 2004 -- EXETER, N.H. - Wise-cracking funnyman Al Franken yesterday body-slammed a demonstrator to the ground after the man tried to shout down Gov. Howard Dean.
The tussle left Franken's trademark thick-rim glasses broken, but he said he was not injured.
Franken - who seemed in a state of shock and out of breath after the incident - was helped back to his feet by several people who watched the tussle. Police arrived soon after.
"I got down low and took his legs out," said Franken afterwards.
Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely. "I would have done it if he was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally," he said.
"I'm neutral in this race but I'm for freedom of speech, which means people should be able to assemble and speak without being shouted down."
The trouble started when several supporters of fringe presidential candidate Lyndon Larouche began shouting accusations at Dean. Franken emerged from the crowd and charged one male protester, grabbing him with a bear hug from behind and slamming him onto the floor.
"I was a wrestler so I used a wrestling move," Franken said.

Note! lets hope Al Franken is sued to his last dime....