AmEx vs. rec.humor.funny

An anonymous reader writes "I worried that Brad Templeton's humorous reply in rec.humour.funny to the MasterCard threat might put an end to my daily read. I never heard the outcome, but since the column continues and he is using the same response to a suit from American Express, it must have been OK. This guy has more b*lls than I."

Comments

B*lls??

[Seekerofknowledge]

This guy has more b*lls than I.

What, can people not say balls now? If not, could someone please say why?

Oh, maybe he means bills, as in dollaz. Meaning, he can afford the law suit?

Either way...

Larry Flynt

[Mazzie]

Billion dollar companies still struggling to overcome protections championed by a pornographer: priceless

Re:He's safe

[Mazzie]

Also you have to look at the other side of the coin. Can you imagine this country, in this day and age, if true satire/parody was not protected?

Did the lawyers actually look at the website?

[91degrees]

Your unauthorized use of AMERICAN EXPRESSWAY ... is likely to cause consumers to be confused, mistaken, or deceived as to the source of origin of your services.

...In addition, your continued use of these marks constitutes a deceptive business practice and unfair competition in violation of state law.

Considering that he's not running a business, claiming to run a business, or using these terms for advertising a business, these statements seem rather curious. Did they just use a search engine and automatically send out a nastigram based on the results? Would my writing "American expression, Membership has its Privileges" in this post result in Slashdot getting a letter? (If so, sorry guys)

Re:Brad needs a lawyer

[Mazzie]

Law schools are pumping out more lawyers than the economy can support. I think the new trend of sending out thousands of cease and desist letters is the law firm form of telemarketing, phishing, or even spamming.

I think they look for a mega-response. If they get a response from a company written by a big law firm it tells a lot about what the company has to lose, and how big their bank account is.

IMO, most lawyers are just looking for an easy settlement anyways. Use a 'bot to dig the internet for 'infringements', send out 10K letters, get 5 settlements for 25K each?