Franken v. Fox, Scalia to decide...

From the NYTimes

"So, the satirist Al Franken writes a book making fun of the Fox News Network, mocking Bill O'Reilly and the gang, and its response is to sue him? The publisher of Mr. Franken's new book — "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" — must be having heart flutters. You can't buy this kind of publicity.

This strange lawsuit has all the feel of an O'Reilly shouting match shoved onto an unlikely new stage: the Supreme Court of New York State. For Fox, the issue is — among other things — Mr. Franken's use of the words "fair and balanced" in its subtitle. The network's lawyers are arguing that those words belong to Fox as part of its trademark. (Journalism schools need to take note here.)

Mr. Franken and Mr. O'Reilly have had one or two public set-tos already, and Fox's complaint sounds like a collection of things Mr. O'Reilly wishes he'd remembered to say at their last encounter. It calls Mr. Franken "deranged," a "parasite," "sophomoric" and lacking "any serious depth or insight."