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11 UCLA Ent. L. Rev. [i] (2004)

handle is hein.journals/uclaetrlr11 and id is 1 raw text is: UCLA ENTERTAINMENT LAW REVIEW Volume 11 Issue 1 Winter 2004 ARTICLES Amicus Brief of Michael Crichton et al. in McFarlane v. Twist E ugene Volokh .............................................. 1 Doe v. TCI Cablevision, 110 S.W.3d 363 (Mo. 2003), held that writers may sometimes be held liable for naming a character after a famous person. Such a naming decision, the court held, is constitutionally unprotected-even when it's not libelous-when it has very little literary value compared to its commercial value, and is predominantly a ploy to sell the work, rather than an artistic or literary expression. This brief, filed on behalf of several leading writers in support of the defendant's certiorari petition, criticizes the Missouri Supreme Court decision. First, the brief argues, First Amendment protection shouldn't turn on a court's view of the literary value of individual literary devices. Second, courts can't meaningfully distinguish speech said with an intent to obtain a commercial advantage from artistic or literary expression. The Supreme Court denied certiorari in this case, McFarlane v. Twist, 124 S. Ct. 1058 (2004), but the split in authority caused by Doe v. TCI still remains, and the issue will therefore doubtless arise again. What's So Funny About Parody? Schuyler M oore .............................................. 21 Like Medusa's head, holding up the defense of parody slays all before it, including copyrights, the right of publicity, and trademarks. The parody defense has simply gone too far and is now permitting blatant rip-offs of valuable intellectual property. Worse yet, the courts have expanded the definition of parody to the point where it has become-quite literally-not funny. In the process, the courts are eroding the economic incentive to create intellectual property, and this, in turn, is hampering, not helping, the free flow of ideas-the direct converse of the courts' express or implicit goal. This article suggests that the parody defense should be trimmed back to a more rational level.

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