As I write this, Al Franken's new book sits at No. 1 at amazon.com. You can order the book by clicking here.
Judge: Fox vs. Franken 'wholly without merit'
From the Associated Press:
NEW YORK - Calling it "an easy case," a judge rejected Fox News Channel's bid to block liberal humorist Al Franken's new book, whose cover mocks the Fox slogan "fair and balanced."
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said the book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, is a parody protected by the First Amendment.
"There are hard cases and there are easy cases," the judge said Friday in a Manhattan courtroom. "This is an easy case. This case is wholly without merit, both factually and legally."
The network had argued the book's cover, which features the word "Lies" over images of Fox prime-time host Bill O'Reilly and conservative pundit Ann Coulter, could trick some consumers into believing the book was associated with Fox.
Franken called the ruling a victory for the First Amendment and satirists everywhere -- "even bad satirists."
He also said he was grateful for the publicity: publisher Penguin Group added 50,000 copies to the original run of 270,000 after Fox filed suit, and rolled out the book Thursday instead of its planned September release date.
"In addition to thanking my own lawyers," Franken said, "I'd like to thank Fox's lawyers for filing one of the stupidest briefs I've ever seen in my life."
Fox trademarked "Fair and Balanced" as a slogan in 1998. It was seeking an injunction barring Penguin Group from using the cover or any other promotion including those words....
The judge also took direct aim at Fox for bringing the case and criticized the "fair and balanced" trademark itself as weak because the words are used frequently in what the judge called "the public marketplace."
"It is ironic that a media company, which should be protecting the First Amendment, is seeking to undermine it," Chin said.
After a slew of bullshit books from such right-wing idiots as Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage, the left seems to be fighting back (Michael Moore's phenomenal Stupid White Men -- which is still on amazon.com's top 100 bestseller list although it has been out for at least a year and a half -- excepted).
Franken's new book is No. 1 at amazon.com and Joe Conason's new book, Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth, is No. 4 on amazon's bestseller list. You can order Conason's book by clicking here. (Franken's and Conason's books are available for $35 if you order them together from amazon.)
Molly Ivins' upcoming book, Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America, sits respectably at No. 21 at amazon. You can pre-order it by clicking here.
Fox's meritless suit against Franken has been better publicity for him than he could have bought. Aside from putting Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them on the bestseller lists, Fox apparently has propelled two of Franken's earlier books, Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations and Oh, the Things I Know!, into amazon's top 100 list.
9:20:28 AM 
|
