An attorney representing Garrison Keillor—folksy raconteur and long-time host of A Prairie Home Companion on Minnesota Public Radio—has sent a cease and desist letter to Rex Sorgatz, who writes the Twin Cities blog MNSpeak.com.
At issue is a t-shirt that was, until recently, for sale on Sorgatz's website. The slogan on the shirt reads "A Prairie Ho Companion," which Sorgatz claims is a parody of the title of Keillor's nationally-renowned radio variety show. Beneath an image of the shirt on the MNSpeak t-shirt page is the following disclaimer: "WARNING: This shirt is not associated in any way with Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor, MPR, The Fitzgerald, or, well, anything — it is PARODY."
The letter from Keillor's attorney objects to the shirt on the basis that the "use of these words creates a likelihood that the public will be confused as to the sponsorship of the T-shirt and our client's services and products."
In a telephone conversation that is recounted on MNSpeak.com, Sorgatz told the attorney, "this is going to make your client look extremely out of touch. I'll even write the headline for you: 'Liberal Comedian Sues Blogger.' Do you really want that?" According to Sorgatz, after several days of consideration, Keillor decided not to withdraw the cease and desist order.
In a post about the whole incident, Sorgatz is conflicted over what he will ultimately decide to do. "[L]et's be clear about the scope of what we're actually talking about: a fairly stupid t-shirt with four words on it. In an age of much bigger problems, is this really worth fighting for?" Still, he has vowed to file a report with the ACLU and has put out a call for a "sparky first amendment lawyer" looking to do some pro-bono work on a potentially high-profile case.
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Article comments
1 - Scott Butki
When I first heard about this I almost blogged about it myself because it makes G-man seem like quite the hypocrite.
But later I was told that if an artist lets one person use anything resembling their title without permission it means ANYONE can do so... and that's a bit trickier to defend.
2 - RJ
It seems like pretty obvious satire/parody to me.
This case should be thrown out of court.
3 - Scott Butki
Yeah but parody doesn't mean Keillor isn't legally required to fight for his trademark even when it's something as stupid as this.
I wrote up an entry which should be posted shortly.
4 - Pete Blackwell
How is he legally required to fight for his trademark?
5 - Victor Plenty
Because if you don't fight for it, it's not a trademark anymore.
If it can be proven in court that you knowingly allowed even one person to use your trademark, then nobody will need permission to use it.
It's just one of the odd quirks of trademark law. Or so I've read in numerous places; I'm certainly no lawyer myself.
6 - Pete Blackwell
So the issue will rest on whether the shirt meets the legal definition of parody. Interesting.
7 - Scott Butki
The humorless petty Keillor meme is fun - if you're into that kind of thing - but it's not exactly accurate.
8 - Dave Nalle
All Keillor is required to do is send an official letter telling the guy to cease and desist. He can then ignore him and do nothing more and his rights are covered.
Dave
9 - Dave Nalle
To go on...the SMART think for Keillor to do would be to grant the blogger a license to use the trademark for a buck in the context of only that t-shirt. That would be an ironclad act signifying proprietary interest in the trademark, but making Keillor look magnanimous and possessed of a sense of humor at the same time.
Dave
10 - Scott Butki
Let me try that link again: