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Fox doesn't have much of a leg to stand on regarding "fair and balanced" as being trademarked. It was not in its best interest for the case to actually go to court for it would have surely had the trademark in all its forms invalidated. I suspect the lawyers at FOX knew this or they wouldn't have dropped the suit.

Actually they had a "leg to stand on," namely the fact that they were granted (I understand) both a trademark and a copyright on the phrase "Fair and Balanced" as a promotional tool for news and political commentary. Trademark law requires them to defend that trademark or lose it. Yes, they lost, in the context of political satire (unless they choose to appeal), but if they didn't even try to defend it they would have lost all rights to challenge MSNBC or CNN if they used the phrase to sell their programming.