Wholly without merit

Well, that was a rather swift and clear victory for free speech.

Fox News went crawling under the porch on Monday, withdrawing its lawsuit against Al Franken and his book (see previous entry).

Last Friday, in a court room filled with derisive laughter, a judge denied Fox News' request for an injunction.

The judge had scathing remarks for Fox News, referring to the suit as “wholly without merit” and calling into question the validity of Fox News' trademark on the phrase fair and balanced. The judge sums up the situation nicely:

After more discussion about what was and what was not satire, and about the definition of “parody,” Judge Chin decided that Mr. Franken's work was of “artistic value.”

“Parody is a form of artistic expression protected by the First Amendment,” he said. “The keystone to parody is imitation. In using the mark, Mr. Franken is clearly mocking Fox.”

He said Mr. Franken's work was “fair criticism.”

Judge Chin said the case was an easy one, and chided Fox for bringing its complaint to court. The judge said, “Of course, it is ironic that a media company that should be fighting for the First Amendment is trying to undermine it.”

You can sample the book yourself in this Salon excerpt. It's very funny stuff.

kherr @ 14:24 CDT | link | general