Some rare news releases are just too entertaining not to blog, and the latest notice from the Electronic Frontier Foundation is a shining example. The company has announced this week that it is suing Barney the dinosaur—the once beloved, now almost forgotten children’s TV star—“to defend online free speech.”
Barney (or, rather, the Lyons Partnership, which owns his trademark) has recruited a crack team of lawyers to sue Stuart Frankel, who owns a rather dated and obscure Web site claiming that the always-cheery dinosaur is “the root of all evil.” But the EFF, which specializes in digital copyright cases, says the Lyons Parternship is harassing Mr. Frankel with cease-and-desist letters. The dispute prompted this memorable quote from a senior staff attorney, Fred von Lohmann: “It’s time for Barney to call off his lawyer armies and get back to entertaining children.”
No word on whether the EFF will try to expose any other toddler-TV icons as copyright absolutists, but the Teletubbies probably aren’t sleeping too well tonight. —Brock Read
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