Name Games
As someone preparing to watch her first name be used and abused over the coming months, I'm almost inclined to empathize with Spike. He has decided to settle with Viacom out of court due to the following revelation:
? my efforts to stop Viacom from using the Spike TV name could have the unintended consequence of threatening the First Amendment rights of Viacom and others.
Neither he nor Viacom will divulge how much he is getting for his newfound constitutional piety.
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40 acres and a mule.
Spike Lee just didn't want to become irrelevant. So the payoff is that they have to run this message on Spike TV every day:
"Spike Lee is America's most important directors. You should eagerly await his next hard-hitting film about race. A true autuer of sublime social commentary, Spike Lee is da man. It must be da shoes?"
You racist!
Spike Lee would never say that. He would instead plead for understanding and accept that both sides of racial issues have their problems. Look into the works of Spike Lee and I'm sure you'll agree, he is one great American director.
I like Spike Lee's films actually - well, most of them at least.
nice revelation Spike. good to see the judge keeping the bond high to get this one out of court. Spike should have trademarked his nickname if he wanted sole ownership of it so bad.
The 25th Hour is one of Lee's best movies and you all need to go out and rent it. If you get the DVD, be sure to watch the deleted scene called "sway".
The whole thing is ridiculous. There shouldn't have been a need for Viacom to "settle" anything.
Spike Lee doesn't own the word "spike" or the name "Spike" any more than the "Spike" vampire character on Buffy the Vampire slayer does.
Well, he did get that spot on Angel. That's something, I guess.
I saw "Do the Right Thing" years ago. Message? Black racists are funny. White racists are not.
This brings up an interesting legal precedent. If you have rights to your name and, for the sake of argument, everything you say, writedown, your image, etc., then say someone tapes you saying something and brings it up as evidence in court, you could just have it stricken from the record because it is your property. So which has precedence? Your ownership of everything you produce or the person's ownership of the tape? It's a minefield.
Spike Lee is currently filming a series for Showtime. Viacom owns Showtime. If this series makes it to air, I'm guessing keeping his job is what Lee settled for.
That guy reminds me of Woody Allen. Maybe he made a good movie or two decades ago but that was a long time ago and he still seems to be around and have some sort of reputation as an artiste.
At least Woody's stuff was funny, back in the 70s.
hehe, he hates being called the black woody allen. anyone remember when quentin tarantino was on charlie rose and he challenged spike lee to go "mano a mano" on his profuse use of "nigger?" that ruled.
I've never found the "I am the most pathetic of all possible characters" Woody Allen shtick the least bit funny.
Spike Lee's movies used to be worth watching because they had a fresh twist. But race baiting gets stale fast.
So change your name to Carrie.
And the winner is........ Beetle Bomb!!!!!!!!!
The scene in "Get on the Bus", where the Jewish driver refuses to drive the bus to the Million Man March because of Farakahn's anti-semitism? Brilliant. Accuse him of race-baiting if you must, but don't think he gives black prejudice a free pass either.
Jungle Fever was trash, but I'm willing to forgive him- Bamboozled and 25th Hour excuse a lot of sins.
Hey ... I can sue the Frugal Gourmet. Wait.
He's older than me and so got here first.
Never mind.
Jeff Smith
man, I loved that show; him and William "mighty brush" Alexander. I know I'm not supposed to like PBS, but whatever. they haven't been on for awhile. they're not dead yet are they? btw, you might also check out Bone by Jeff Smith. it's a pretty cool comic.
This brings up an interesting legal precedent. If you have rights to your name and, for the sake of argument, everything you say, writedown, your image, etc., then say someone tapes you saying something and brings it up as evidence in court, you could just have it stricken from the record because it is your property.
Actually, the courts just recently ruled on this one, in the case of someone who belongs to some screwball religion in which names and utterances are considered personal property. He was on trial for something or another, and kept trying to charge the judge and other trial participants for using his name in court. Needless to say, he lost.
the frugal gourmet got into trouble for homosexual sexual harrassment or something like that.
The last year or two of the Frugal Gourmet got a little weird, as he did nothing but show film of himself and his "assistant" chef spending *a lot* of time together traveling around Europe. He was allegedly married at the time but you never saw a bit of his alleged wife. Just lots and lots of the "assistant" guy.
Yeah, but the proximate cause of his show disappearing was a sexual harrassment suit by some guy.
(Why do I even know this stuff?)
Hey, "July 8, 2003 05:08 PM,"
Why are you not supposed to like PBS? I regularly hear remarks heaping scorn on (or suggesting the existence of scorn for) PBS and NPR (not stemming from conservative vitriol), but I don't get it.
Maybe I'm that rare liberal Libertarian (and feeling rarer everyday). I applaud Spike for dropping a frivolous lawsuit. "I'm Spike, so you can't be," indeed! That's corporate monies that can be spent on entertaining me, and Zues knows Viacom needs all the money it can get in the entertainment department.
Dammit. There goes my brilliant plan to sue defunct Canadian comedy troupe SCTV for using my initials without permission.
That Malcolm X movie sure was a piece of crap.
Did you ever notice that Spike Lee goes around with an expression on his face that's a lot like the one the assassinated Saudi King Faisal used to sport?
I don't know what it means, other than maybe Spike has ulcers.
About the Frugal Gourmet & his wife -- I remember seeing her on one show. She was a dead ringer for Charles Laughton in "Spartacus." I'm not kidding.
I think it was the episode where the Frug cooked some recipe that turned out to be brown.
You're presuming that Spike Lee is getting some money from the settlement. It's more likely he's getting a promise from Viacom not to sue his sorry ass into bankruptcy.
Lee's lawsuit was questionable to begin with. By filing his lawsuit, he claimed exclusive control over the word "Spike". While copyright and trademark law has become more and more dictatorial in recent years - thanks in no small part to the shysters in and out of Congress - there is still the basic rule that thou shall not lay claim to a commonly-used word or name. When the son of the late Spike Jones joined in the legal fray, he helped prove that "Spike" IS a common name, and thus Lee had no legitimate claim to its exclusive use.
I have no doubt that if it did go to trial, Viacom would have won, and then their attorneys would turn Lee into a pauper over the legal damages.
Man gives judge a bill for royalties on name
May 16, 2002, 10:10AM
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) -- Frederick James thinks his name is worth a
bundle.
Claiming he has copyrighted the use of his name and is due royalties on
its use, James sent the judge overseeing his drug case a hefty $151
million bill.
James claims judges and his public defender have used his name 302 times
in court proceedings and he charges authorities $500,000 every time they
speak or write his name.
But officials at the U.S. Copyright Office said it does not allow names
to be legally protected from another's use.
U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan ruled Monday that James is not
mentally impaired, can stand trial and can represent himself against
marijuana dealing and weapons charges.
James is charged with dealing less than 50 kilograms of marijuana and
various firearms violations. He could face up to 20 years in prison.
Before ruling on James' mental state, the judge asked, "Do you not think
it's bizarre that you charge people to use your name?"
"It's my private property," James replied.
"I have no doubt that if it did go to trial, Viacom would have won, and then their attorneys would turn Lee into a pauper over the legal damages."
And that would have been very, very devilish!
The King Of Pop
well, I suppose for ideological reasons, heh. like I grew up on PBS and loved the kids' shows, the nature & science programming and all the how-to stuff. but it's government-sponsored television, to which libertarians have an natural aversion and inclination to dislike.
I'm new to libertarianism, which I guess is why I hang out here, but really haven't taken up the dispositional reflex yet. basically, I'm still attracted to what works and is practical rather than the way things should be. the tricky part is getting from here to there.
EMAIL: pamela_woodlake@yahoo.com
IP: 62.213.67.122
URL: http://organize-digital-photo.online-photo-print.com
DATE: 01/20/2004 06:12:27
I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
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