I don't smoke marijuana. Never have and I don't think I ever will. But of all the frivolous lawsuits Canada has seen of late this one is really silly and I think the people in the legal department at the CBC need to inhale a bit of cannabis. Really. A guy in Vancouver -- the Prince of Pot, Marc Emery --held regular pot parties during the NHL playoffs. He sported a T-shirt with the number 420, a code word for the drug. The jerseys sported the letters "THC" in place of "NHL." And what did the guy call it? Hockey Night in Vansterdam (a combination of Vancouver and Amsterdam).
CBC has filed a suit demanding cease and desist claiming Emery has impaired the value of the Hockey Night in Canada franchise and stated: "The title and the logo are likely to depreciate the goodwill attaching to CBC's marks." The state broadcaster even managed to get a home video yanked off YouTube.
There a difference between plagarism whether intentional (as Kenneth Hagin did to E.W. Kenyon) or not (as George Harrison did to The Chiffons); and a harmless parody like this. No serious person could possibly confuse a political statement with an entertainment commodity. Unless Don Cherry picked up the addiction.
Vote for this post at Progressive Bloggers.
No comments:
Post a Comment