Fox News Withdraws Trademark Suit
"Fair and Balanced" Not Likely to be Valid Trademark
Following Friday's defeat in its motion for a preliminary injunction, Fox News Network dropped its trademark infringement suit against Al Franken and Penguin books yesterday.
In Friday's strongly worded ruling, federal Judge Denny Chin denied Fox News Networks' motion for a preliminary injunction to block the publication of "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," by Mr. Franken. Fox News had claimed that the title infringed its trademark in the phrase "fair and balanced."
The judge's decision held that Mr. Franken's First Amendment right in his book's title far outweighed any interest Fox News might have in the trademark. He also found it unlikely that "fair and balanced" is a valid trademark, given the phrase's prominence in "the marketplace of ideas."
He ruled it highly unlikely that, as Fox had argued, the public would be confused by Mr. Franken's title into thinking that Fox News endorsed the book.
The Authors Guild is the nation's largest and oldest society of published authors and the leading writers' advocate for fair compensation, effective copyright protection, and free expression.
Regain Your Rights
Learn how to terminate transfers under § 203 of the Copyright Act (download PDF).
Copyright Forms
To register a manuscript, use Form TX. (If you are the only author and copyright holder and the work is new, you may use Short Form TX.)
Freelance journalists may want to register their collected work every 90 days and save registration fees. Use Forms GR/CP and TX to do this.
Download Forms.
You must file within 90 days of publication for maximum statutory protection, but even delayed filings provide valuable protection for your works.
The fee for filing either TX form is $45. There's no additional fee for filing GR/CP with a TX form.
For more than 90 years the Guild has been the authoritative voice of American writers...