Sherdog suing Fightlinker for April Fool's Parody?

Underground
1

UPDATE looks like maybe thay are. and yesterday Fightlinker played it off as a joke...but i guess Sherdog doesn't understand parody rights and keeps sending legal mumbo jumbo to FL...




Out of all the Aprils Fools' Day jokes big and small, I think my favorite has to be from Crave and Sherdog.com! Look at what they sent us yesterday!

As of the date of this letter, the homepage of Fightlinker.com has been styled “Shitdog” and designed to exactly resemble the homepage of Sherdog.com, all in violation of the Sherdog Marks.  The mark SHITDOG is spelled and pronounced confusingly similarly to the mark SHERDOG.  This confusion is compounded by the use of a dog logo that is virtually identical to the dog logo that is a part of the Sherdog Marks.  Finally, the page layout and color scheme of Fightlinker.com is virtually identical to Sherdog.com.  Taken in their totality, these and other features demonstrate clearly that Fightlinker.com was designed by you to intentionally trade on the goodwill of Sherdog.com by using marks that are confusingly similar to the Sherdog Marks.


We put a decent amount of work into our Shitdog parody, but Sherdog took it several steps further: they PAID a lawyer to put together this prank! For them to put that much time and effort into this makes us here at Fightlinker feel truly appreciated - we pranked Sherdog good, and they pranked us right back in epic fashion. Well done!



The basis of any good prank or parody is that you try to make the joke as realistic as possible, and Sherdog achieved this with a full 3 page letter from their legal counsel at Crave. We've already seen what one of these looks like before, and it appears pretty legitimate to the untrained eye. Fortunately for us, we have a pretty intimate understanding of the legal concepts known as fair use and parody so by the end of page one we realized that our leg was being pulled.



Again, my hat is off to Sherdog for putting so much effort into this. I'm glad their lawyer had enough of a sense of humor to play along too. Most decent legal eagles would not be willing to attach their name to such a frivolous and baseless document - I mean what would happen if people actually thought this was real???



Oh, to see our original parody that Sherdog played off of so masterfully, click here.    

2

 Sherdog and Fightlinker are both great sites and I'm glad they both have a sense of humor.

3

Good stuff. And glad to see they have a sense of humor too.

4

LOL

5

What makes anyone think the cease and desist is a joke?

By the way, I'm not a fightlinker fan, but that parody is pretty damn funny.

6

I thought Pranks were over after TUF 8, I hate that show

7

wow, that is great stuff

8

 looks like maybe thay are. and yesterday Fightlinker played it off as a joke...but i guess Sherdog doesn't understand parody rights and keeps sending legal mumbo jumbo to FL...



More shit from Sherdog


April 3, 2009 – 1:16 pm by dulljake

sherdog_letter More shit from Sherdog


You don’t officially get harassed by lawyers until the letters come by, so this morning was an especially pleasant surprise to be reminded how humorless Sherdog really is. They want us to surrender any and all profit we made from the whole April Fools day joke. Sure, you can have it. How does one write a check for zero dollars again?


I think in general what really peeves me is how big companies respond to being poked fun at. I don’t doubt that most of them consider parody as something that damages their brand, but they need to get over that shit. We live in a free society, and that means that if I want to laugh at someone, I have the right to do so. I don’t yet live in a future dystopia run by giant corporations that demand absolute loyalty…yet. If this kind of harassment is indicative of the response companies have to satire, then it goes to show just how far they are willing to go to protect their companies from any form of criticism or dissent.


This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve been harassed by them, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. The US is a hotbed of litigiousness. You have more practicing lawyers in the Continental United States then all other countries combined. The only other thing you can boast about similarly is your defense budget.


Stop sending us letters, Sherdog, and for fuck sakes get a sense of humor.



9

 SHITDOG IS A BUNCH OF FAGGOTS AND AKIYAMA DICK SUCKERS.

10

 LOL @ Who wants to lick Gina's chode?

11

Thanks for the store, passed that one up

12

Crave Online threatened us already...nothing happened. April Fools all the way...it aint real.

13

I just became a fan of Fightlinker. Not so much because of the prank, but because of Sherdogs reaction to it.

14

Holy fucking LOL @ "Where are they now: Brad McCray".
That's pure comedy.

15

is that Frank Shamrock as the new Shamwow guy?

16

relax shitdog.......if said in jest"than no lawyer can defend"....Shamrock Wow.......

17

GladiatorGannon - is that Frank Shamrock as the new Shamwow guy?


 Yes. Fucking priceless.

18

 for awhile it was common to take popular logos and change em 15% to use as your own. the 15% change made it legal. i say theyve done 15% here