March 10, 2004
Fair Use and Political Speech: Priceless (MasterCard v. Nader)

Thanks to LawGeek for sharing news of Ralph Nader's "priceless victory." A mere 3 1/2 years after Nader ran "Priceless" TV ads, a court has granted his motion for summary judgment, finding no copyright or trademark infringement. The decision offers nice analyses of copyright fair use and trademark non-commercial use, and you've got to love phrases like:

As a matter of law, plaintiff has failed to show a genuine issue of material fact as to the likelihood of confusion between MasterCard's financial services and Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential political campaign.

Now if Nader would just take this win and retire... In the meantime, let's see Pat Buchanan pick up some of the votes on the other side: Run Pat Run.

Posted by Wendy at 09:46 AM