BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!

Subject: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 01:31 AM

Barney the Purple Dinosaur had his day in court and lost....to the San Diego Chicken. Read all about it:

Dateline: California -- Barney the dinosaur has been soundly beaten by the San Diego Chicken. And, according to a federal appeals court, the purple dinosaur must continue to take his licking. Lyons Partnership LP, the owners of pre-pubescent icon Barney, attempted to sue Ted Giannoulas, who performs comedy skits at sporting events as the Famous San Diego Chicken. Lyons objected to a skit in which Giannoulas pretends to beat up a large purple dinosaur. The Barney boys claimed copyright infringement, alleging that the dinosaur costume used in the act too closely resembles the TV Barney. The lawsuit was dismissed last year when a judge ruled that the Chicken's act was clearly intended as parody. Last week, a panel of three federal judges upheld the decision, ordering Lyons to pay Giannoulas' legal fees and forcing Barney to take his lumps.

This is good. More power to the San Diego Chicken, I say!

Subject: RE: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 01:46 AM

Ted Giannoulas is lucky in law. He became the Chicken about 25 years ago, give or take, plus or minus a couple of years, as a promotion for a local radio station--I forget which--and was known by their call letters. When he decided to go on his own (or the station tired of the fowl persona) he was forced to gain rights to the Chicken in court and became thew SD Chicken. As I recall, one reason he prevailed was that he had substantially designed the chicken soup (I mean suit) and the personality of the bird. 2 for 2 in the coop of law.

Subject: RE: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 02:30 AM

Barney is a whineytittybaby with no sense of humor!!! Kinda' reminds me of Sha........uh, no.......I won't go there.............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 11:01 AM

It's really nice when deep pockets don't win out.

Subject: RE: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 05:04 PM

More info on the Net about the festering malodorous evil that is Barney....

"MORE! MORE! The Barney Creature is a voracious, bottomless pit. All who oppose it with ridicule must be destroyed. The Barney Creature's weapon of choice is the Legal Absurdity which seems to have been honed to a dull edge by a Darwinian process - that is, with no controlling intelligence - and the Creature wields it with the finesse of Wile E. Coyote®. First the Barney Creature took aim at a chicken, and shot itself twice. The San Diego Chicken, in costume, would beat up Barney, also in costume, for entertainment. Barney sued, and the fight was metaphorically re-enacted in the courtoom, as a federal judge summarily dismissed the suit. Eager for another beating, Barney appealed, and wound up having to pay the chicken's legal costs.

THE BARNEY CREATURE THEN CHANGED TACTICS, figuring that if it couldn't beat a single opponent, it might have better luck again a multitude, so it sent out inane but scary legal notices against websites, threatening suit for trademark and copyright infringement. A legal analysis of these absurdities is here. These succeeded in scaring enough people that the original version of this page now reads like a cemetery of dead links. But people who stood up to the Creature were able to face it down easily. Then, emboldened by this Pyrrhic vicory, it has started a sending out a new round of inane but scary letters, this time threatening to complain to the websites' Internet Service Providers. A non-legal analysis can be found here . The Creature's follow-up letter with a non-legal analysis can be found here; a legal analysis can be found here. The Creature's tactic, for perhaps the first time, actually makes sense - the Creature has been beaten up so badly in court that it has finally learned to try its case in a non-legal venue, such as an ISP.

Will the Creature succeed this time? It's difficult to care. "

Subject: RE: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: Kaleea
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 05:13 PM

I watch that ****ing dinosaur almost every day with my 18 month old niece. In the dark recesses of my mind, I can still recall the recording I heard one time on the radio at least 15 years back--sorry if my memory isn't exactly correct
(sung to the tune of "Wendy" by The Association)

Who's popping out all over the airwaves
smiling and singing lots of dumb songs
who's so annoying you could go crazy
everyone knows it's Barney.

Subject: RE: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: GUEST, The Banjoest
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 05:21 PM

John on the Sunset Coast:

That would be the KGB Chicken and it was about 35 years ago...Time sure flies. I remember seeing the Chicken the first time he came out, he was just a hand puppet in a box.

Subject: RE: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: John O'L
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 07:08 PM

The KGB chicken? I bet that was a popular radio station 35 years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Barney trounced by San Diego Chicken!
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 08:54 PM

KGB? Or KFC?