Fox Throws in Towel (After Snapping Itself)

Fox News, trounced and ridiculed in court and in the blogosphere (see Ernest Svenson’s analysis here), has dropped its lawsuit against Al Franken:

The lawsuit had sought unspecified damages from Franken and Penguin Group, publisher of “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.”

“It’s time to return Al Franken to the obscurity that he’s normally accustomed to,” Fox News spokeswoman Irena Steffen said.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin denied Fox’s request for an injunction against the book cover. Fox dropped the suit Monday.

Fox contended that some people might be tricked into thinking the book was a Fox product because the cover includes the words “Fair and Balanced” and a picture of Bill O’Reilly, the network’s top anchor.

But the judge said Fox’s case was “wholly without merit,” and the trademark “Fair and Balanced,” registered by Fox in 1998, was weak. He also said the network was “trying to undermine the First Amendment.” [AP]

Meanwhile, the attention has driven Franken’s book to #1 in Amazon. Sometimes acting like a spoiled child – as Fox News has done here – gets you exactly what you deserve.