It’s been a long time since I have had reason to root for Disney, but go Mouse! Take everything he’s got, particularly his laptop, tablet, phone and anything else he might use to upload his books to Amazon!
RK@HM
7 days ago
I was going to say that Kermit was akshully a Sesame Street character and therefore didn’t belong to Disney, but after doing a little research online, I discovered he’s akshully the only Sesame Street character who does belong to Disney since Henson never sold the rights to him to the (non-Disney-owned) Sesame Street Workshop. Ah, the complexities of copyright and trademark law! Of course, unless Maximilian St. John is making ridiculous amounts of money from publishing this niche erotica crap, chances are he’s not worth suing; but that kinda means he’s a loser either way, doesn’t it?
Akshully, trademark holders normally defend their IP aggressively no matter the amount of money involved, as it demonstrates to courts that they are consistently concerned with trademark dilution. That becomes important if a defendant fights back and says that the once-trademarked term (Xerox, Windbreaker, Band-Aid, etc.) has entered into common parlance as a generic term. That’s how Bayer lost the trademark on “Aspirin.”
Eh, despite all its financial woes over the past few years, I suppose Disney could afford to waste the money on lawyers’ fees to sue this chump. The problem is that the company would be wasting its money, since Maximilian St. John would probably have to declare bankruptcy, and what little could be recovered from liquidation of his assets would never be enough to cover the legal expenses. There’s also the question of whether he or his lawyer would ever have enough chutzpah to pretend that Kermit (and the character’s likeness) has entered into common parlance as a generic term.
As lawyers who make their living from suing people will always tell you, “Go for the deep pockets.” From a purely mercenary perspective, the more obviously effective tactic would be to start by serving up a cease & desist notice to both Maximilian St. John and Amazon, and threatening to sue them both if they don’t take the book’s cover down; but then concentrate any followup to these threats mainly on Amazon, since that’s who actually has enough money to make the lawsuit worthwhile. Of course, judging by the company’s previous behavior in the face of previous legal threats (e.g. over erotic literature covers with pictures of children on them), chances are Amazon would fold almost immediately and take down the entire sales page while sending Maximilian St. John a notice that he needs to replace that cover before he’ll be allowed to put his book back up for sale.
So the final outcome of the (mostly one-sided) conflict between Disney and Maximilian St. John will probably be a lot more boring than some of us are hoping, but this wretched cover will most likely be taken down at some point; except around here, of course, where it will be preserved so its ignominy (and its author’s) can live on in perpetuity.
red
6 days ago
I have to wonder if, for the British version, the title was changed to read “HMSBBW”.
I doubt it. Since SSBBW means Super Sized Big Beautiful Woman, HMSBBW would have to mean Humongous Monstrously Sized Big Beautiful Woman. Either way, that means the gal indicated is not only fat, but fat enough that she weighs over 400 pounds.
It’s been a long time since I have had reason to root for Disney, but go Mouse! Take everything he’s got, particularly his laptop, tablet, phone and anything else he might use to upload his books to Amazon!
I was going to say that Kermit was akshully a Sesame Street character and therefore didn’t belong to Disney, but after doing a little research online, I discovered he’s akshully the only Sesame Street character who does belong to Disney since Henson never sold the rights to him to the (non-Disney-owned) Sesame Street Workshop. Ah, the complexities of copyright and trademark law! Of course, unless Maximilian St. John is making ridiculous amounts of money from publishing this niche erotica crap, chances are he’s not worth suing; but that kinda means he’s a loser either way, doesn’t it?
Akshully, trademark holders normally defend their IP aggressively no matter the amount of money involved, as it demonstrates to courts that they are consistently concerned with trademark dilution. That becomes important if a defendant fights back and says that the once-trademarked term (Xerox, Windbreaker, Band-Aid, etc.) has entered into common parlance as a generic term. That’s how Bayer lost the trademark on “Aspirin.”
Eh, despite all its financial woes over the past few years, I suppose Disney could afford to waste the money on lawyers’ fees to sue this chump. The problem is that the company would be wasting its money, since Maximilian St. John would probably have to declare bankruptcy, and what little could be recovered from liquidation of his assets would never be enough to cover the legal expenses. There’s also the question of whether he or his lawyer would ever have enough chutzpah to pretend that Kermit (and the character’s likeness) has entered into common parlance as a generic term.
As lawyers who make their living from suing people will always tell you, “Go for the deep pockets.” From a purely mercenary perspective, the more obviously effective tactic would be to start by serving up a cease & desist notice to both Maximilian St. John and Amazon, and threatening to sue them both if they don’t take the book’s cover down; but then concentrate any followup to these threats mainly on Amazon, since that’s who actually has enough money to make the lawsuit worthwhile. Of course, judging by the company’s previous behavior in the face of previous legal threats (e.g. over erotic literature covers with pictures of children on them), chances are Amazon would fold almost immediately and take down the entire sales page while sending Maximilian St. John a notice that he needs to replace that cover before he’ll be allowed to put his book back up for sale.
So the final outcome of the (mostly one-sided) conflict between Disney and Maximilian St. John will probably be a lot more boring than some of us are hoping, but this wretched cover will most likely be taken down at some point; except around here, of course, where it will be preserved so its ignominy (and its author’s) can live on in perpetuity.
I have to wonder if, for the British version, the title was changed to read “HMSBBW”.
I doubt it. Since SSBBW means Super Sized Big Beautiful Woman, HMSBBW would have to mean Humongous Monstrously Sized Big Beautiful Woman. Either way, that means the gal indicated is not only fat, but fat enough that she weighs over 400 pounds.
I would expect an SS or an HMS to have a displacement measured in tonnes.
For St. John this is refreshingly inoffensive.
Again: anything on that scale (i.e. the one that runs from very offensive to atrociously offensive) is rather dreadful by default all the same.