legal questions about a non-fiction book, and website registration (libel, slander)

legal questions about a non-fiction book, and website registration (libel, slander)

rocker1@shegolfs.com (Dave Arbok)	10/19/2004 10:56:24 PM
Some details changed, but otherwise situation is quite real. Lets say I am writing a book about how the Campbell's soup company is bad for society. There are many legal questions that come to mind, but here are the first two- 1. If I title my book "Campbells is evil" (in a generic font, not styled to look like their logo or anything) and put on the cover a picture I have personally photographed of their president, and digitally altered to have horns, have I done anything that would put me at risk? 2. If I make a website promoting my book at campbellsisevil.com, do they have any way or right to take the website away from me? Then there are a few questions about the content of the book. 3. If I have quotes from people speculating about laws that the company is breaking, is there risk of libel or slander? 4. If I suggest in the book that a very tiny percentage of thefts of cans of soup are prosecuted, and that it would greatly benefit society if everyone would steal cans of Cambpells soup, is this an incitement to illegal activity, is that illegal in any way? 5. If I outright say in the book, "you should steal soup because it would help society and you are unlikely to get caught," is that illegal? If any of these things are illegal, would they all be legal if I pretended the book was fiction and added characters to make it into a novel and changed the name of the company to something recognizable but slightly different? i.e. In the novel, the hero says "Let's steal some more Bamwell's soup, it is our duty!"



gordonb.i9a8p@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)	10/20/2004 6:30:03 AM
Lets say I am writing a book about how the Campbell's soup company is bad for society. There are many legal questions that come to mind, but here are the first two- 1. If I title my book "Campbells is evil" (in a generic font, not styled to look like their logo or anything) and put on the cover a picture I have personally photographed of their president, and digitally altered to have horns, have I done anything that would put me at risk? Yes. You have infringed on Satan's trademark on horns, and since he is a wholly-owned subsidary of Microsoft, expect to be bought out and spend the rest of your life in a dungeon in Redmond. 2. If I make a website promoting my book at campbellsisevil.com, do they have any way or right to take the website away from me? Yes. They can buy out any ISP you try to get service from, then cancel your account. Gordon L. Burditt



horrigan@aol.com (Horrigan)	10/20/2004 4:26:07 PM
2. If I make a website promoting my book at campbellsisevil.com, do they have any way or right to take the website away from me? Yes. They can buy out any ISP you try to get service from, then cancel your account. They could claim you are infringing on their trademark. *** Tim Horrigan <horrigan@aol.com> ***

Report this post for offensive content