August 23, 2003
"Unfair and Off Balance": Fox News Loses Suit Against Satirist, Franken Laughs All the Way to the Bank
Here’s an excerpt from the New York Times story from Saturday:
- “If anything, the lawsuit only benefited Mr. Franken. His book had been scheduled for release in September, but the publicity caused the publisher to print an extra 50,000 copies, for a total of 435,000, and to roll the book out on Thursday. After the ruling yesterday, it moved to the No. 1 spot on the best-seller list at Amazon.com. The network filed for the injunction on August 11. Fox News Network trademarked the phrase "Fair and Balanced" in 1998 to describe its news coverage, and network lawyers claimed that Mr. Franken's use of the phrase in his book would "blur and tarnish" it. Fox also objected to the use of a picture of Bill O'Reilly, one of its prominent news personalities, on the cover, claiming that it could be mistaken as an endorsement of the book. But these arguments were met by laughter in the crowded courtroom, as Fox tried to defend its signature slogan. Part of the network's burden was to prove that Mr. Franken's use of the phrase "fair and balanced" would lead to consumer confusion. One round of laughter was prompted when Judge Chin asked, "Do you think that the reasonable consumer, seeing the word `lies' over Mr. O'Reilly's face would believe Mr. O'Reilly is endorsing this book?" The giggling continued as Dori Ann Hanswirth, a lawyer for Fox, replied, "To me, it's quite ambiguous as to what the message is here." She continued, "It does not say `parody' or `satire.'" Ms. Hanswirth said Fox's "signature slogan" was also blurred, because people who were not associated with the network, which owns the Fox News Channel, also appear on the cover with Mr. O'Reilly. Judge Chin said, "The president and the vice president are also on the cover. Is someone going to consider that they are affiliated with Fox?" The courtroom broke into laughter again. Ms. Hanswirth replied, "It's more blurring, your honor." After more discussion about what was and what was not satire, and about the definition of "parody," Judge Chin decided that Mr. Franken's work was of "artistic value." "Parody is a form of artistic expression protected by the First Amendment," he said. "The keystone to parody is imitation. In using the mark, Mr. Franken is clearly mocking Fox." He said Mr. Franken's work was "fair criticism." Judge Chin said the case was an easy one, and chided Fox for bringing its complaint to court.
UPDATE: On Monday 25 August, Fox News dropped the suit.
- Arik
August 22, 2003
As Gillette Fights Schick over Mach 3 and Quattro, Rayovac Liked Remington So Much They Bought the Company
… Prompting Me to Ask, What’s the Deal with Batteries and Shaving?
As Gillette, the world's largest maker of shaving products (and owner of Duracell, by the way), went to court last week to counter a new competitive threat from its closest rival, Schick-Wilkinson Sword (owned by Energizer), another battery company (Rayovac) jumped into the shaving business as Rayovac bought out Remington for $322 million, plus debt. Here's an excerpt from the Gillette/Schick battle:
- “Gillette filed a suit against Schick over Quattro, the first four-blade razor, for an alleged patent infringement. The suit, filed in a federal court in Boston, alleges that the new razor uses technology that Gillette developed to allow the three blades on its Mach 3 system to extend progressively closer to the face and provide a smoother shave. Gillette claims it spent $750 million to develop Mach 3. "We welcome honest and innovative competition but we will vigorously defend our valuable intellectual property," said Peter Hoffman, the president of Gillette's grooming division. The lawsuit is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions and triple damages. Gillette has a commanding 70% share of the world market for wet-shaving products, with Schick a distant second, at 18%. But the lawsuit was viewed by analysts as a reaction to the increasing threat posed by Schick. In a market where new product development over the past few years has often hinged on the addition of further blades, Schick has stolen a march on Gillette with Quattro. While Schick was preparing the launch of the four-blade razor, the people in the research and development department of Gillette were still adding a third blade to its Sensor brand due for launch next year. The drug company, Pfizer, acquired Schick in 2000 as part of its takeover of Warner Lambert and had always intended to sell the business on. Analysts say that, in the interim, Schick received little management attention or marketing push, leaving it in a state of destabilizing uncertainty for two years. It was bought by Energizer, the U.S. battery maker, earlier this year and has since shown signs of renewed verve. Two weeks ago it reported a 27% jump in quarterly blade and razor sales. Schick is planning to launch Quattro in the U.S. market next month for $8.99. The company has already begun to make a dent in Gillette's U.S. women's market sales with the Intuition brand. The razor has three blades surrounded by a bar of soap and is more convenient for women to use in the shower. The brand is held to be behind a 2.9% gain in Schick's U.S. market share to 17%. Gillette at the same time has fallen 4.3% to 63%, according to market data firm Information Resources. 'I think this shows the seriousness with which Gillette takes the Quattro as a threat to its core blades and razors business,' said Joseph Altobello, an analyst at CIBC World Markets."
Here’re a few background links:
- Arik
August 21, 2003
Wireless Phone Companies Soon Free to Woo Landline Competitors
The FCC is taking up discussion of forcing wireline telcos to make phone number portability mandatory, as they’re now forcing wireless carriers to. The decision would go a long way toward making it possible for wireless phone companies to solicit business from landline customers, and accelerate the already precipitous decline in wired subscriber growth already so prevalent a trend within many demographics.
Face it… it’s just easier for most people to get a wireless phone they can always be near and ditch their stodgy old corded phone. Good story from Mercury News.
- Arik
August 20, 2003
Retailers Poised to Repel Threat of Parent/School Backlash on Sexy Back-to-School Clothes, Just as Fall's Abercrombie & Fitch Catalog of Mostly-Naked Kids Debuts
The latest A&F catalog surfaced in the past few days, just in time for back-to-school shopping, filled with images of frolicsome youngsters – except, most were not only wearing practically no clothes at all but were engaged in all sorts of fleshly playfulness. Is it time for parents to finally rebel against such marketing tactics?
Another article I noticed today talked about the not-so-subtle negotiations parents and their junior-high-age “tweener” kids go through in getting prepped for school – again, mostly surrounding how much skin kids can bear.
In an era when more schools than ever are heading back to uniforms rather than allow such skimpy fashions, is it really a smart move for retailers and apparel marketers to ignore the voice of parents struggling to put their Britney-emulating geniis back in the bottle.
- Arik
August 19, 2003
Verizon Wireless Walks Into Walkie-Talkie Market and Lawsuits by Rival Nextel for Trademark Infringement, Drops Charges of Nextel Corporate Espionage
vs.
Verizon Wireless’ frontal assault on Nextel’s primary point of competitive differentiation – it’s Direct Connect feature – is hitting the streets; 95 percent of Nextel’s 11.7 million customers use the push-to-talk feature, and AT&T Wireless and Sprint are both expected to launch their own similar offerings later this year. Still, interoperability between networks is far from a done deal and that’s going to give Nextel some much needed breathing room to improve their service and pricing.
The amount of time it takes to connect the call will also be advantageous for Nextel, who began to prepare for the competitive threat from Verizon by going nationwide with Direct Connect in July.
Meanwhile, both Verizon and Nextel are being suitably litigious in their competitive strategy: in June Verizon filed a lawsuit against Nextel, saying the company had used “corporate espionage” to acquire prototypes of its new handsets and gained unauthorized access to its network; while Nextel sued Verizon over the use of the words “Push-to-Talk” as a trademark of Nextel’s service.
Still, Push-to-Talk is more Motorola’s technology than anyone’s and MOT appears to be ready to use it to propel it forward and out of its current funk with ambitious new plans to sell next-gen handsets.
- Arik
Here are a few more supplemental links on the issue:
August 18, 2003
AMD Gets 64-Bit Competitive Leverage from Opteron & Athlon64 in Battle with Intel
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices shot up, after an influential tech stock strategist said AMD’s new Opteron and Athlon64 microprocessors pose the “biggest-ever threat” to the dominance of industry hegemon Intel Corporation. Has Intel allowed AMD a point of competitive leverage in their ongoing battle by being slow to market with its own 64-bit microprocessor?
Investment newsletter publisher Fred Hickey told Reuters that, “an endorsement by IBM of AMD's Opteron chip has given the Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker momentum to break into the business of selling chips for use in data-serving computers used by businesses. ‘They're threatening Intel like they never had,’ Hickey said in an interview following comments he made earlier to the financial weekly Barron's. Intel is ‘facing their biggest threat in history,’ he said.”
In another quote from the same Reuters piece, “Hickey said the likelihood of widespread acceptance of AMD's chips has never been greater. He said he expects Sun Microsystems Inc. to use Opteron chips in some of its business computers. Hickey also said he expects major PC manufacturers to adopt AMD's new Athlon64 line of chips for home computers. Intel has downplayed the need for 64-bit computers in the home, and has not announced any plans to sell 64-bit chips designed for home users. Apple Computer …
- Arik
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