Bush takes shot at The Onion
The White House sent The Onion a cease-and-desist letter regarding the parody site’s use of the presidential seal. From the NYT:
“It is inconceivable that anyone would think that, by using the seal, The Onion intends to ‘convey… sponsorship or approval’ by the president,” wrote Rochelle H. Klaskin, the paper’s lawyer, who went on to note that a headline in the current issue made the point: “Bush to Appoint Someone to Be in Charge of Country.”
danger Said,
October 26, 2005 @ 12:17 pm
I like the onion, but they are clearly wrong here. If I were to do a parody of, say, IBM, they wouldn’t let me use their logo either. Sure, I could make a parody of the logo, but that’s not what the onion did.
And before you say “But the presidential seal belongs to the people!”, it doesn’t. The government of the united states can own stuff, too. Just try and walk into the white house and claim a candlestick is yours.
Boxen Said,
October 26, 2005 @ 2:25 pm
I don’t think that’s clear at all. While the seal isn’t the subject of the satire, what it symbolizes is. Not to mention, SNL uses the seal all the time.
danger Said,
October 26, 2005 @ 4:02 pm
Maybe SNL uses a similar seal — or maybe they use the actual one. In either event, it is legal for the gov’t to selectively enforce this… maybe they’re just made cause The Onion hasn’t been funny for the last 18 months, whereas SNL hasn’t been funny for 18 years.
and all they did was send a c&d anyway.
Boxen Said,
October 28, 2005 @ 8:39 pm
Update: The Onion fires back with this.
Electro Rock Said,
October 30, 2005 @ 6:03 pm
OMG