Shawne Merriman vs the Stuffed Bear The power of comedy is that it takes contemporary issues and stretches them to the extreme and then puts the exaggerated picture of who we are as a society back in our faces. Back a while ago, comedian great Mike Myers played Pitka in the movie flop "The Love Guru". During a number of scenes, Pitka would make comments, realize that they were catchy, and then quickly tack on and little "TM" to his statement. The idea was that he was trademarking everything clever that he said. Ridiculous? That's why it's comedy. And, yet...since comedy is an exaggeration of everyday life, does that mean there are people who actually go around doing things like that? Meet Shawne Merriman. Yes, the very same Shawne Merriman …show more content…
His opponent: The Vermont Teddy Bear Company. The company produces a line of bears with the word "Lights" on the bottom of one foot, and the word "Out" on the bottom of his other foot. Merriman wants $2 million for "trademark infringement, unfair competition, and false endorsement right of publicity". Will Merriman get his sack or will the referees throw out the yellow flag? In this case, it may actually be a coaches red challenge flag. While Merriman does have a trademark on the words, a trademark does not mean that nobody can say or use them, it simply means that nobody can use those words to compete against him in his marketplace or create confusion that would lead to somebody believing that he endorsed their product. What are the chances that anybody buying a Vermont Teddy Bear Company bear is going to see the words "Lights Out" on the bottom of the bear's feet and say, "Hey, look, Shawne Merriman endorses this product."? Exactly. This isn't the first time Merriman has gone to court over the words, however. He is still in court over a 2014 run-in with Nike who used the words to market their goods. In that case, Nike actually knew about the trademark and used it anyway. The case still has not been
A native man being called a redskin, first time he’d ever heard the word and being offended by it.Now, that same word is the name of a football team known as The Washington Redskins.Ole Miss Rebels, a football team, had to rename the team in order to not be racist towards African Americans. The Washington Reskins, years after knowing people were emotionally hurt by the name, kept it.Many Natives protest and refuse to be a mascot, but yet the name is still on their jerseys. The Washington Redskins are aware that they are invidious to some Native Americans, but fail to change the name and feel the need to keep it.
“Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious” -Peter Ustinov. Comedy is used in everyday life. It is a way to slip in the truth while decreasing the blow. Comedy allows the hard things to hear, to be said in a way where it is not so hard. The truth can be hard to hear sometimes but comedy uses comedic tactics to slip in the truth that is hard to hear, but needs to be said, into the world. In the excerpt from Live right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster) by Dave Barry, is a high comedy excerpt that uses the comedic tactics sarcasm and situational irony to express the truth about growing up and how to live right in a funny manner.
When president Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt visited the South in 1902. He was invited to a hunting party. The organizers of the hunt was eager for the President to have a successful hunt. Tying a bear cub to a stake so that President Roosevelt could not miss the bear. After Roosevelt realized he could not escape, the President refused to fire. A political cartoons was printed in a newpaper based on the incident. The cartoon, drawn with a small black bear, was seen by a shop owner in brooklyn. The shop owner than made up a window display version of the little bear, in a soft, plush material before offering the bear to customers, the shop owner asks Roosevelt for permission to sale the new toy as “Teddys Bear.” The President gave his approval,
You’ve always been aware that there was something missing, a spec of yourself that you had lost. A splinter lost among the masses, unbeknownst to you of what exactly it is. It isn’t until you take an interest to studying old films that you realise what you’re missing. You’re missing a caretaker, someone to look over you as you grow and progress into adult hood. Someone who loves you unconditionally and shows that affection through providence and protection. You’ve always had your stuffed bear Ted there for you; old with faded colour and fraying fabric he listens to your problematic teenage issues and is always there for the occasional hug when you’re feeling a little too down on yourself.
Satire is utilised by many to mock and exaggerate the conforms of modern day societies and their idiosyncrasies. The aim of satire, I believe, is to very much “afflict the comfortable” which is, extremely prevalent in Joseph Heller’s book “Catch-22” and in the Simpson’s episode “Lisa vs Malibu Stacy”. The “comfortable” simply refers to the people whom wield exceptional power, such as the military bureaucracy in Catch-22 and the Malibu Stacy company in Lisa vs Malibu Stacy, which can be translated in real life situations where satirists mock large companies and people in power. Joseph Heller and the duo of Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, both utilise a wide variety of satirical techniques in an effort to “afflict the comfortable.”
When people think of parodies, they think of music videos, movies, and skits that are made for the purpose of making fun of an existing music video, movie, or skit that was created under a serious context. The definition of parody is “the imitation of an artist, writer, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comedic effect.” Parodies are all very different in content, but the basic formula to make one is the same and all parodies aim to have the same goal: to make people laugh. In video parodies, there is always a subject taken to poke fun at, specific video editing similar to the original video, and characters that play over-exaggerated and often ridiculous caricatures of their original counterparts. For a website like College Humor, that produces watchable internet content, such as parodies of popular television shows, this means creating a show called “Precious Plum” based off of the hit-television show “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and when it comes to the television series, Family Guy, everyone does. A person either loves the series or absolutely hates it. Antonia Peacocke voiced her opinion on the hit series in her article, Family Guy and Freud: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. At first she was just another addition to the other Family Guy haters, but she eventually came around and saw the humor after the hard to swallow punch lines. “Family Guy does not aim to hurt… creators take certain measures to keep it from hitting too hard.” Peacock says (307). What the creators are reenacting in the shows are not exactly, socially
According to Dr. Wheeler at the Carson-Newman University, satire can be described as a “distorted reflection of society” whereby the author paints a view of the concept or atmosphere he is criticizing, but adds an element of tone to amplify the concept’s flaws and may also come up with solutions for the bettering of it. When using satire, the author’s purpose is most often to share how negatively he thinks of the concept in hopes that others may agree and take action in it’s bettering. With this purpose in mind, the author then employs certain tones or elements of
On the other side of the problem, there are situations in which a stand-up comedian or a comedian of any kind has their jokes taken and retold almost exactly or maybe they tweak something
Is funny just for the sake of comedy. But instead of trying to get rid of that type of
We are living in a time where it seems as if we as a people cannot agree on anything. We are living what appears to be a turbulent time in a nation that is dividing further and further apart. With all the terrible things going on in the nation we all need an escape from time to time. To me one of the best escapes form the chaos in the world is laughter. What better way to get that laughter delivered to you, than stand-up comedy? Over the years I have not met many people that do not enjoy going to a comedy show. The one thing that I have found is that most people either do not know that comedy shows are going on all around them or; they will not go to a show if the person is not famous. As a stand-up comedian myself I know how hard it can be
Comedy exists in difference. Therefore, comedy must exist on a plane where there is a standard - something that can be considered normal, the concept of a default. Once you’ve set the standard for what is normal, anything that can be considered abnormal can be a source of comedy. Simple enough. But the question of what is normal has extreme situational, personal, and geographic implications. In talking about comedy and race the implications are simple. There is a clear default in a world oversaturated by Western media – the default being whiteness. Once you have set these as the standard, any character who is a deviation of this standard is set up to be laughed at. How then does one go about making jokes when they’ve already been marked as
In accordance with the United States Trademark Act, any word can be used by a firm for its products or services as a trademark (Gilson, 1990). The Act defines a slogan as a catch phrase used to advertise a product or service or in the promotion of the same. Each slogan is protected under the Trademarks Act.
In case you would like to argue that Louboutin does not actually have a trademark after the facts I have already pointed out, the red sole mark has gained secondary meaning. Even though the trademark has met all the criteria to be considered a trademark some people may still be on the fence with it. The red sole mark has in fact acquired secondary meaning regardless. For it to have secondary meaning all it must do is have massive advertising from the person or company that is widespread enough to create a trademark in the consumers’ minds as a product source indicator. Also, the company or person must be using it continuously and exclusively for 5 years for it to obtain a secondary meaning. Louboutin has established this by using the red soles on all his shoes since he established his shoe line in 1992. Since he has used the red soles
A company could infringe on a trademark without even knowing it. Trademark infringement shows up regularly in the business world. Not every company, however, will seek legal action each time this happens, others do pursue it quite regularly. “The Court ruled that the public would not be deceived or led to believe that the Defendants' goods were made by the Plaintiffs, because the parties did not share a common field of trading activity as the Plaintiffs' reputation was limited to slippers.” As a result of this, I believe that the Court’s decision was unfair when they declined to grant an injunction based on the grounds that a member of the general population would not be misguided or convinced that the Defendants' merchandise was made by the Plaintiffs.