Activists behind NY Post parody detained by police

[Newsjock]

Source: Daily Finance

The New York Post does not have a sense of humor about itself, it would seem.

Early this morning, some 2,000 activists affiliated with a group called The Yes Men handed out copies of a 32-page parody issue calling attention to climate change. But when volunteers tried to distribute copies outside the Post's offices, they were detained by police and their papers were confiscated, says an eyewitness.

Photographer Jason Nicholas was taking pictures of Yes Men volunteers outside Grand Central Terminal when he got a text message letting him know there was an incident in progress at the News Corp. headquarters building on Avenue of the Americas about 10 blocks away. Nicholas raced to the scene in time to see police officers detaining three volunteers who had been handing out copies.

"They seized the papers that those guys were distributing" and took them inside the building, says Nicholas, who has photos of the confrontation. "It seemed they were acting in concert with building security because I noticed them talking before and after." Nicholas estimates the volunteers were held for 15 to 20 minutes. He could not say whether they were handing out papers on the sidewalk or on the concrete apron that fronts the News Corp. building.


Read more: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/21/activists-behind-ny-post-parody-detained-by-police/

[Aragorn]

1. We cannot allow

parody, satire, or humor of any sort - why do these people hate our freedoms?

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. Actually, we can't allow violation of trademarks

Otherwise, anyone could print up the "New York Times" and say anything they damn well wanted.

Why do you hate registered trademarks?

[unblock]

4. since when is trademark violation a matter for the police?

nevermind that the courts consider parody to be "fair use", the police are not there to be first responders in enforcing civil law. you don't call the police is someone violates the fine print in a contract, for instance. you sue and let the courts decide.

if they were tresspassing, or violating a restraining order, that would be a matter for the police.

[Dreamer Tatum]

6. Interesting question

Still, parody is fine when it's clearly a parody. You step over that line when you use someone else's trademarked standards in a clear effort to appear legitimate.

[Robb]

13. Do you see a clear effort to appear legitimate here?

I don't. I see parody, quite clear. :shrug:

[Iowa]

14. No, it's not an "interesting question". It's a fact.

In your zeal to defend corporate interests you missed the primary point, which has to do with cops overstepping their bounds and the inherent dangers to civil liberties. Trademark issues are irrelevant to the role of police, and even if it was relevant, it would be a trifling matter when compared to the liberty of citizens.

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. " "In your zeal to defend corporate interests" zzzzz fell asleep there

It's a shame that evenhandedness has become a grace rather than a common aspect of intellect.

Oh well.

[AlbertCat]

17. It's a shame that evenhandedness....

....is confused with just being plain wrong.

[damntexdem]

20. Good -- stay asleep! Wake up when you come back to your senses.

The issue isn't whether it's fair use, could be challenged in court, any of those things. It's that the police have no role in the affair -- certainly not detaining the activists nor confiscating the parody papers.

[Aragorn]

8. Maybe it was

"disorderly conduct"?

The link seems to show that the sane name was used and the update says the cops haven't answered as to why they were involved and why anyone was "detained"?

[unblock]

11. disorderly conduct is a BIG stretch.

unless there was something significant omitted from the story.

[Aragorn]

5. Did it say that?

I don't know. If so I agree. But whenever I have been involved with what is properly referred to as a lampoon, we sued a parody of the name. Thuis "The Daily Campus" became "The Daily Compost" etc.

If that's what they are mad about, does it matter if the parody was given away or sold?

[Downwinder]

7. Do trademarks have value? Are they taxed? n/t

[Dreamer Tatum]

10. WTF????

What does that have to do with anything?

And to the extent they are used to generate income, why, yes, they are taxed.

Not to mention it costs to secure a trademark.

[ovidsen]

21. Absolutely right, Tatum

And I have to disagree with some posters here who said the fake papers being passed around were "clearly parody". No, they were not. The layout and headlines are eerily close to the real thing.

All the folks who put together this very creative work of protest art would have had to do is change the masthead ever so slightly, so it reads (for example) NOT THE NEW YORK POST.... which is what the geniuses behind the parody of the Gray Lady did with their masterpiece released during the 1978 NYC newspaper strike. As far as I know, they were never sued, and they did make some money.

http://technollama.blogspot.com/2008/11/not-new-york-times.html

Interestingly, the people taking credit for the NYPost spoof also say they put together a parody of the New York Times last July. Link below. It's quite funny!:

http://www.nytimes-se.com/

To its credit, the NYT didn't go ballistic over this.

And in closing, I'd like to point out that (as of this writing) NONE of the phony Post distributors are being detained. They were released after 20 minutes. The USA isn't perfect, but think where these activists would be now if they had tried to pull off this stunt in Iran? Or Russia?

[tk2kewl]

2. seems like the Post is playing into their hands

they will likely get a lot more coverage than they could have gotten by handing out a few bogus newspapers. Good on them! :applause:

[unblock]

9. link to the spoof:

http://nypost-se.com/

[AlbertCat]

18. Clearly parody

I mean:

WEATHER: 73*, sunny; outlook: grim.

[TerribleLarryDingle]

12. If you haven't seen "The Yes Men Fix The World"

You really owe it to yourself to see it. These guys are true patriots.

http://www.hbo.com/docs/docuseries/yesmen/

[Xipe Totec]

16. The problem is that it's hard to tell the real NY Pest from a parody n/t

[KamaAina]

19. When confirmed nutjob Abe Hirschfeld briefly took over the Post, the staff made its own parody

with Alexander Hamilton (the Post's founder) shedding a tear on the front page and an article headlined "Who Is This Nut?".

[Newsjock]

22. Does anyone have a link to the PDF of today's fake paper?

Looks like it was posted at nypost-se.com earlier, but the links are busted now. Did anyone mirror it elsewhere?