Friday, January 03, 2003

Okay I’ll stop after this

Okay I’ll stop after this one, but here’s my question to the people of this great country: if you’re gonna change your name to Jack Ass, shouldn’t you expect people to take it in vain?  If you make up a weird name like Jazzy Dangle, okay.  You’ve got protectable unique content - even though, technically, titles and names cannot be copywritten unless containing in and of themselves some cognizable content (such as Tomlin’s “Search for Intelligent Life").  However, there’s privacy rights and misrepresentation, not to mention appropriation of likeness and interference with prospective economic advantage.  But that’s when you make up a name.  When you use one that’s been around for centuries, and then try to protect it, you really are a jackass.