Chuck Norris takes on the Penguin
Published by on December 24th, 2007
Chuck Norris isn’t happy. And, according to interweb lore, when Chuck Norris isn’t happy, all manner of unpleasantness can result from his swinging roundhouse kick.
What?
Let’s go back to the beginning…
Chuck Norris is - come on I don’t really need to tell you that, do it? - a bearded movie martial arts guy. Geeks with a sense of humour have created ever growing collections of spoof aphorisms all about the Chuckimator and the power he has over our universe through many aspects of his body and infinitely superior martial arts skills. The best way to grasp this, if you are not already aware, is to spend a few minutes over at Chuck Norris Facts or the Chuck Norris Fact Generator.
It seems Chuck is not happy about the creator of a Penguin publication, The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World’s Greatest Human, which reproduces these “mythical facts” in book form. Chuck’s lawyers are suing over the book, and the websites the author runs to promote the book:
“Defendants have misappropriated and exploited Mr. Norris’s name and likeness without authorization for their own commercial profit,”
I suppose when you look at it like that, there’s no argument - someone promoting and, most significantly, profiting from someone else’s name. But there’s a snag in their argument as wouldn’t this type of publication and material fall under the more open spoof/satire copyright laws? If works containing unauthorised use of names and likenesses were an issue how could we have unauthorised biographies?
I’ll not pretend to understand the legal copyright aspects of the argument, but it would be a shame to see these geek entertainment points on the net disappear due to over enthusiastic lawyers.
Not only is the Chuckimator swinging a (rightful) roundhouse at Penguin books, but he’s coming down on other places where his name is being used without his permission. Says-It.com has had to remove references to him from their website after a cease and desist letter. Will Chuck Norris Facts be next?
More on the story here and here.
