Asymmetrical Information

An ethical government applies the law consistently. The worse case is somebody sitting in an office and making subjective decisions about who passes muster.

If there's a problem here it's the law, not consistency in enforcement.

Is that article for real?

It's hard to imagine that anyone has found The Onion funny in years.

Who needs Sudoku...Civ IV should be in the stores in a day or two. The only real question I have is how long the blog hiatus will last once you have it installed? Perhaps we can get a futures market going - Will Jane Galt have more than 5 non-Civ related posts in the first 30 days after she installs it?

The Onion couldn't possibly come up with anything as funny as the Bush administration comes up with on a daily basis.

Sudoku? Isn't suicide a little drastic?

It's interesting, trademarks are not protected by parody (as opposed to copyright) and, therefore (as much as I hate to say it) the White House had no choice but to enforce their intellectual property rights.

On the other hand, The Onion was really funny after Huricane Katrina with the headline (and excuse me, because I'm parphrasing here):

GOD OUTDOES TERRORISTS YET AGAIN.

Just brilliant.

Jane plays Civ? So I take it that this blog will start being about important things like the effect of religion and holy cities or how much harder it is to retain control of an enemy city you conquered. Don't disappoint!

Sudoku? Isn't suicide a little drastic?

No, no. That's seppuku...

Also, the same use-for-advertising prohibitions apply to the flag, under 4 USC 3, which is, you know, obviously followed to the letter.

Aren't there restrictions on government money being used for political campaigning? How do public appearances with only pre-screened Republicans admitted count as legitimate government work?

As as test of The Onion's committment to their stand of parody as protected from copyright law, perhaps someone could put up a website called The Oonion. The site could reference how its gotten by on the same 6 jokes for the last 4 years and how the staff likes to masturbate in their own Cheerios about how ever-so-clever they are.

If you don't defend your copyright you lose it. I'm guessing something along those lines going on here.

If you don't defend your copyright you lose it.

Err -- trademark, that is? I was under the impression that copyrights sort of get etched into stone tablets under current IP laws, and exist whether you even KNOW you have one.

Trademarks, on the other hand...

I believe, from the article, that the Presidential Seal is protected by specific law (or law applying to the various official seals of the Federal government offices, at least), not by trademark.

(I mean, I suppose it might also be trademarked or markable, but the issue here is one of specific federal law preventing its use, not a case of trademark infringement.)

Umm, Phil. There is a specific statute that criminalizes unauthorized use of the presidential seal. It has nothing to do with advertising. The flag "code" has no penalty for its violation.

Perhaps you might be able to tell the difference between those 2 examples?

The statute is 18 USC 713 (E.O. 11649 also covers it), fyi.

perhaps someone could put up a website called The Oonion...

Go for it, Bill. I'm sure your version would be much funnier than the real thing.

The Onion claimed in their defence that there was no misuse because people are well aware that The Onion is a joke. The record shows this to be untrue. Several of their stories, one about Harry Potter and witchcraft comes to mind, have circulated by email without clear attribution.

Anony-mouse,

You are correct. The constitution says you have a copyright in your work...it's one of those "inailienable rights" thingies. Trademark law is granted to us under that Lanham Act. All you have to do to get a Copyright is write something. Even if you don't register it with the copyright office, it's yours. While you can have a common law trademark, you must protect it or you loose it. See: Escalator, asprin, etc.

Okay, good, thanks -- so I wasn't smoking the happy powders, then. Seems those two IP issues, and the associated rights/responsibilities, always get conflated once they are introduced into comment threads.

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