A friend of mine is taking on Wal-Mart - holy crap!!!!

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart7mar07,1,5484361.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true

Wal-Mart Parodist Sues to Sell Products
The creator of slogans bashing the retailer says it's a free-speech issue. The company calls it a trademark violation.
By Abigail Goldman, Times Staff Writer
March 7, 2006


Computer store owner Charles Smith is the first to admit the T-shirts and mugs he designed to lampoon Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are in bad taste.

But Smith had wanted to make a point by comparing the giant retail company to the Nazis. So he created slogans playing off the Bentonville, Ark., firm's familiar logo, including "I {heart} WAL*OCAUST. They have family values and their alcohol, tobacco and firearms are 20% off."

Wal-Mart wasn't amused. The company launched a legal battle by writing a cease-and-desist demand that led Smith to file suit Monday in federal court in Atlanta — with the help of Ralph Nader's legal aid group, Public Citizen — for the right to continue selling the products.

At stake, Smith said, is his right to publicly criticize the world's largest retailer — or any other company.


On edit: Charlie is a great guy! I hope he wins!!!

that evil bastard company gets awarded.

Charlie is a hardcore Dem. I truly hope it turns out well. He's supposed to be interviewed by Anderson Cooper sometime this week.

And he's rich as Roosevelt.

But I doubt he will lose, and if he does, we can kiss the First Amendment goodbye.

I think the purpose of their threats to him were simply an exercise in frightening him, to make him cease and desist. Having Public Citizen defend him ups the ante. The WalCrap bunch have lawyers on payroll, so perhaps they are hoping that others might be constrained simply by this pending legal matter.

He first got notified by their usual lawyers. Then Bob Greenwald passed his info on to Larry Lessig. When Wal-Mart found out Lessig was involved, they hired some very high-powered lawyers to go after him.

God I hate Wal-Mart.

i sued a large corporation and lost, i did not have to pay the court costs & "whatever," judges are generally aware that individuals could never make use of the court system if they were in danger of being forced to pay for a corporation's expensive attorney and court costs, a large corporation is expected to be able to pay its own legal bills as part of the cost of doing business

i was sorry to lose as i didn't get the award or the precedent i was seeking, but certainly i did not have to pay even one dime to the corporation in question


if it was a frivolous court case, then it might be different, and the judge might see fit to punish the plaintiff for bringing a silly case, but these days judges are more likely to simply refuse to hear silly cases in the first place

this is my experience based on my state, louisiana, and ea. state has different laws, but i just don't see a judge making the plaintiff pay the costs if he loses in this case, because there is clearly a serious difference of opinion, it is not a matter of your friend fell down in wal-mart and filed a nuisance slip and fall suit, he is in a situation where he legitimately requires a referee between himself and the corporation

Why is wally world sniveling and running to a lawyer over this. I bet they'd talking out of the other side of their mouth if Mr. Smith was suing them after slipping on a wet spot in one of their dirty stores.

I thought it fit our farce of a Democracy perfectly.

Get some of those bloody posters that the Anti-Choice crowd uses to picket Planned Parenthood, and use them to picket Wally World.
I’m absolutely PRO-CHOICE, but think the Fundies need to face this hypocrisy.





Will the Republicans stand on Moral Values when their wallet is threatened?
Only immoral people (Communist abortion lovers) shop at Wal-Mart!

:applause: GOOOOO CHARLIE!!! :applause:

K&R.

and mugs to show our support!

Or did I somehow miss that tidbit of info?

There, I exercised my free speech. I sure wouldn't buy the shirts, but he has the right to make them.

I'd love to see it!

I think trademark violation suits are partly determined on how much the parody logo looks like theirs...

As soon as I get it I will post it in here.

He's playing media darling right now and it's taking him a while to respond to emails :)

:patriot:

i too would like to see the work in question

a member in the DU? Knowing Charlie, I think he would like it.

Hey sweetie, I'm off to work! :-(

And fear not pitohui, you don't have a secret admirer. Mr. RubyDuby responded in the wrong spot :)

I posted this image on Cafe Press once, and it didn't last five minutes.



They won't allow any trespass on copyrights or trademarks.

It's a shame about Cafe Press.

Haven't done anything with the image since Cafe Press knocked it off, though.

Here's his site.

wasn't satire legally okay? Or has that changed when it comes to big companies now?

with a logo that looks a lot like an existing company's logo, it is not always okay due to trademark laws. I think that is probably where potential for legal problems is coming into this guy's situation.

:woohoo:

to even fight Walmart is no small task. I hope that this isn't the case of if he wins, he loses because the court battle required massive resources.

I hope that he wins--Walmart sux!

they had the meanest attorney and everyone I worked with pretty much lied so they wouldn't lose their jobs.

They're everywhere else. Low cost medical care with Drs imported from India etc, will drive down costs for everyone ! What a great business model.

The 'whithering away of the state' isn't just for Marxists anymore but Capitalists as well ! We've come full circle here folks. Time for freepers to wake up and smell the coffee, they're drowning government in the bathtub with the baby and the bathwater they're throwing out as well. (Sorry for the mixed Norquist metaphors).