Wal-Mart Sues Seller Of "Wal-Ocaust" T-Shirt

[xultar]

Wal-Mart Sues Seller Of "Wal-Ocaust" T-Shirt

ATLANTA -- Wal-Mart has filed a federal lawsuit to stop a metro-Atlanta man from displaying a logo that compares the marketing giant to the horrors of Nazi Germany.

Charles Smith, a 48-year-old computer repairman from Conyers, marketed the "I (heart) Wal-ocaust" logo on T-shirts and put it on his Web site.

The company's lawsuit says Smith "seeks to cloak his illegal commercial activities under the mantle of the First Amendment" and is "tarnishing Wal-Mart's trademarks and business reputation."

Smith acknowledges that the "Wal-ocaust" term is tasteless. But he and his attorneys, part of Ralph Nader's Public Citizen Litigation Group, believe this is a free speech battle in which the company trying to silence its critics.

...
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/8649544/detail.html?rss=atl&psp=news

[wicket]

1. Here's his site:

www.walocaust.com

[leftstreet]

11. "Save 20% on Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms"

:rofl:

[LiberalPartisan]

2. That's fantastic...and very creative! n/t

[khair75092]

4. I'll take 2!!!

[Breeze54]

3. I am busting out laughing!!!

:rofl: :rofl:

Then he says : "Welcome to Wal-Queda"!!!!
:rofl: :rofl:

Too friggin' funny!!!

:wtf: --> "The censored art work is shown below."

[Hobarticus]

9. So worong, yet so right...

Damn, that's clever as hell. Thanks for posting!

[unblock]

5. how stupid can walmart get? their lawsuit gives free publicity for this!

they don't have a legal leg to stand on, this is clearly fair use. this guy is not trying to make people think that he's walmart or anything.

perhaps they had a hope of intimidating him into shutting down, but once he got real attorneys, walmart should drop the suit fast.

[depakid]

23. It's a classic SLAPP suit

and they will lose- and from the looks of it, buy themselves some more bad publicity in the process.

[shadowknows69]

6. Suck it Wally World

Satire and parody are protected free speech. If they don't positively identify your store you're beat.

[cboy4]

7. Sounds like the FOX News O'Reilly security department is

at it again. :eyes:

[wicket]

8. The Keystone Kops

:rofl:

[Jed Dilligan]

10. Thank you

I've been mulling over some form of protest as a wal-mart threatens to block my favorite view (and possibly threatens to kill much that is good about my town). The artwork on the walocaust and walqaeda sites may come in handy!

[darkmaestro019]

12. So which thing is it that Walmart thinks they have copyrighted--

the letters W, A, and L, or the smiley face (watch out, entire Internet!)

or the German eagle?


:rofl:

C'mon, Walmart, which is it? We're waiting!

[cascadiance]

20. I guess Walgreens is in trouble!

Can't insinuate that Wal-Mart is a green company now can they! Oh... I guess they were there before Wal-Mart. Maybe THEY should sue Wal-Mart! :)

[RubyDuby in GA]

32. The smiley face

They told him in the original complaint that they had trademarked the smiley face.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Yaay! Charles Smith!!!

:yourock:

[msongs]

14. here, can I get walmart to sue me? I need the publicity -->

Msongs
www.msongs.com/chinamart.htm

[DarleenMB]

17. bwhahahaha

I've been calling them China-Mart for 2 years now. Everytime I say it people look at me real funny. Like they never noticed all the goods in the store are made in China. duh.

I knew I shoulda done up a bumper sticker! drat.

[cascadiance]

18. I originally had a t-shirt like so...

on Cafepress.com:



They stopped me from selling it so I had to change it to the following, which was OK:



http://cafepress.com/chinamart/

Hmm... Probably just as well that I did change it. I could have been caught like that guy did!

Never did get to making a bumper sticker though. Just buttons, t-shirts, mugs, etc. If someone says they'll buy one, maybe I'll make one.

[Canuckistanian]

15. It's OK when Mann Coulter says it to a writer

But it's hate speech when a corporation is the target? Let's get a standard here.

[LiberalPartisan]

21. You just defined the standard...

The individual, at least non-wealthy individuals are bad - Corporations are good and, like the rich, are deserving of protection.

Yeah - it's warped.

[NYC Liberal]

16. In other news, sales of the t-shirt SKYROCKET over night...

Geeeeez WalMart really is stupid :eyes:

[hexola]

19. Why don't they sue "King Of the Hill" for "MegaloMart"

Perhaps not as tasteless - but just as "tarnishing to Wal-Mart's trademarks and business reputation."

If not more...

MegaloMart = Megalomania (for those of you who dont get it - or dont know the show...)

[pinniped]

22. I don't see how this could tarnish their reputation.

They already suck ass.

What about this and this:





These have been up for years. One would have to assume Murder King and Wicked Wendys would have tried to get these removed.

[nonconformist]

24. Damn, I want one of those shirts!

It seems to me, if nothing else, this could be protected under parody law.

[Kolesar]

25. What is this about knife fights? eom

[RubyDuby in GA]

29. Charlie is a good friend of mine - he came to my very first Dean meetup

The knife fights actually occured at the Wal-Mart in Covington, GA down the road from where he has his shop (which his landlord has sold the building because they're building a new Super Wal-Mart across the street so he's being kicked out of business because of the very beast he now fights).

A knife fight between two women, I think.

[baby_mouse]

26. What are they playing at? They must know they can't win this.

???

[xultar]

27. Kick for the day crew.

[Triana]

28. Coming soon: Wal-Queda.

Bwahahahaa!

:rofl:

[paparush]

30. "Stay for the KNIFE Fights..." LMAO!!!

[RubyDuby in GA]

31. This is the guy I told you guys about a few weeks ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=597436

Lots has gone on since then and any kind of contribution you can make would be so appreciated. Wal-Mart has gone after him with a vengeance.