Fox Goes to Court As 'Lies' Arrives in Stores
by Karen Holt -- Publishers Weekly, 8/25/2003
Facing a possible preliminary injunction that could have kept one of its hottest-selling books from getting into readers' hands, Dutton rushed Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right to stores last week, scrapping plans for a one-day laydown of the book.
"The events of the last few weeks have kind of overtaken us. The book is the answer," said Lisa Johnson, Dutton's executive director of publicity. Dutton has printed 320,000 copies of the book so far—70,000 more than were planned before a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Fox News Channel sent the book shooting to the top of Amazon.com's bestseller list. The book was originally to have been released on September 22.
The sped-up release means the book could be on shelves by the time a judge rules on Fox's request for a preliminary injunction against it, which the network claims violates its trademark of the phrase "fair and balanced." Oral arguments on the case were scheduled for August 22.
In the suit, Fox also objects to the book's cover, which mimics the look of two titles by Bill O'Reilly and features a photo of the conservative commentator. Fox contends the similarities may confuse readers into thinking the book is sanctioned by the network. According to the suit, "One commentator has referred to Franken as a 'parasite' for attempting to trade off of Fox News' brand and O'Reilly's fame."
O'Reilly's upcoming title, scheduled for release September 23, one day after Franken's original pub date, does not appear to be reaping the benefits of the publicity surrounding the court fight. Last week, as Franken's book was among the top five Amazon.com bestsellers, O'Reilly's Who's Looking Out for You (Broadway Books) ranked 1,437.
Meanwhile, the Author's Guild is joining the fight, which it sees as potentially precedent setting. In an amicus brief filed last week, the Guild argues that "few sentient readers" will miss the clues indicating Lies is not a Fox-approved book, adding, "Even the most slow-witted of book buyers won't make this mistake." The Guild also submitted a long list of book titles that use trademarked words and phrases, including Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions and Stephen King's From a Buick 8.
