CNN Takes Legal Action Against The National Debate Over Kerry Poll Parody

I have been informed that CNN is now taking legal action against The National Debate over their objection to a faux news report on fake poll results showing John Kerry leading in a recent poll of fradulently registered voters. Can't these guys take a joke? I guess they can so long as it as the expense of George Bush. Poke a little fun at their candidate and they call out the lawyers. Good grief.

Over the past few days I have withheld publishing on the site as I consider my options. During that time CNN has been pushing my ISP to shut down my entire web site.

Normally, I'd come down on the side of the guy doing the parody. Political parody should be protected free speech.

But this -is- a bit much. Not that I think anyone with half a brain shouldn't figure out it's a joke, but I can understand why CNN would be upset. If you look at the bottom left of the parody, it even includes:

"2004 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us."

Fraudulently using their copyright notice, even in a parody, is to me a bit over the top as "parody". And the only indicator (other than content) that it's a parody that I could find is the tiny "Misleading edition" on the top right. CNN's got a legitimate complaint here, I think - I'm not saying they should -win-, but I don't think it's out of line that they would consider legal action either. Had they not just cut and pasted the CNN copyright notice where they did, CNN wouldn't have a case in my view, but with it.... well, if I were in their shoes I'd be upset too.

Qwinn

Had they not just cut and pasted the CNN copyright notice where they did, CNN wouldn't have a case in my view, but with it.... well, if I were in their shoes I'd be upset too.

Why not politely ask Mr. Cox to remove the copyright notice before starting down the litigious route?

Kerry apparently leads Bush in pre-debate poll Senator's approval rating highest since January

Monday, September 27, 2004 Posted: 8:16 PM EDT (0016 GMT)

The poll came out ahead of Thursday's first presidential debate.

(CNN) -- Headed into their first face-to-face debate, Sen. John Kerry appears to be leading President Bush among fradulently registered voters, with a clearer edge among illegal aliens.

The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that among fradulently registered voters, Kerry was the choice of 92 percent, while Bush was the choice of 5 percent and independent Ralph Nader garnered 3 percent. That result was within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

In the broader category of uninformed voters, 83 percent supported Kerry; 10 percent, Bush; and 7 percent, Nader. That question had with the same margin of error.

The poll was taken from Friday through Sunday, at the end of a week in which Kerry ratcheted up his flip-flops on Bush's Iraq policy.

On Thursday, the two men will debate in Miami, Florida, home to thousands of illegal Haitians, Cubans and South American immigrants.

Reached for comment, Robert Cox ofThe National Debate said, "this entire survey is a joke, a very bad joke in very poor taste".

Although the poll showed Americans divided almost evenly over whether they approve of the president's Iraq policy, 55 percent said it was not a mistake to stay home and watch Sabado Gigante instead of going out on Saturday night, compared with 42 percent who thought Christina is better than Oprah.

An astounding majority, 93 percent, said they would support Bush if he gave them free cars and bricks of gold.

Democrats attributed their strong poll numbers to an aggressive drive to circumvent state and federal election laws.

Asked which man would better handle the situation in Iraq, 15 percent said Bush and 11 percent said Kerry and 74 percent "no habla ingles". Two months ago, they were tied on that question.

The poll also showed Bush's job approval rating at 54 percent -- the highest since January -- and it found increased public approval for the president's handling of the economy, terrorism, the situation in Iraq and his willingness to do his own yard work.

Among felons, 9 percent also said they believe Kerry would lead the country in the wrong direction, compared with 88 percent who thought he would lead it in the right direction. But 4 percent of felons thought Bush would take America in the right direction; 96 percent thought he would move the country in the wrong direction.

In the prisoner poll, Kerry got higher marks than Bush on improving the chow line, more cable TV channels and leniency for escape attempts.

And asked which man would better handle relations with other Mexico, Bush -- charged by his critics with alienating the world community through unilateralism -- beat his Democratic challenger by a 52 percent to 44 percent margin.

Although half of those polled said the outcome of the election would have no effect on whether they were able to cross the border illegally, 31 percent said they think chances of their getting caught would be increased if Bush were re-elected. Only 16 percent said they thought the chances of their getting caught would be reduced if Kerry was elected.

A survey of deceased voters last week in Chicago showed similar Kerry strength. Among voters dead for more than five years, 78 percent supported Kerry, 9 percent supporter Bush. In a surprise Ralph Nader showed suprising strength among voters dead less than five years.

Oh, boy! To be a "parody", you need to be *similar* enough so that a reader can tell who you are thumbing your nose at, but *dis-similar* enough to avoid litigation. Your web page directly uses protected material. You made no attempt what so ever to create any unique work. For example, use the same lettering style, but call the network CCN instead of CNN, stuff like that. I am afraid the lawyers will be all over you for this, and with some justification. I would do the same if you used the *EXACT* likeness of my company's name and logo without my permission to do so.

I think it is a great parody.

It would be impossible for any remotely educated person to be confused.

And anyone who would adjudicate such a claim would have to be a flaming liberal or a moron (is that redundant?) to not dismiss it outright.

I think the best thing for Mr. Cox to do is issue CNN a public apology, and promise never to use CNN owned-objects in his site again. Then, rework the page using MSNBC or ABC, and as others have suggested, change the font, etc, and have a small disclaimer in the lower left-hand corner.

It's not worth CNN's time or money to pursue this into the ground, but there is their "good name" to defend. As with a person, a corporation's identity, particularly a media corporation, is the ultimate property of any value. They can't accept a "paraody" which uses their official copyrighted material. Not only is there liability issues involved (i.e. CNN could potentially be sued for something someone else wrote under their copyrighted banners), but precedence as well. If they allow their corporate identify to be co-opted in the public domain, it will become the property of the public domain. They must defend it.

SFS

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