The folks behind Family Guy are getting the last laugh in a legal tussle with Carol Burnett after a federal judge tossed a lawsuit by the famous funnylady over an episode that parodied her.
As Stewie Griffin might proclaim, “Victory is mine!”
In her suit, filed in March in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Burnett claimed that after she refused to grant Fox and Family Guy mastermind Seth McFarlane consent to use the theme music from The Carol Burnett Show, they “knowingly and deliberately” rewrote the episode to disparage Burnett’s famous cleaning-lady character.
The 74-year-old comedian says the Apr. 23, 2006 episode, titled “Peterotica,” wound up including the music for a segment. The bit also featured a ‘toon character giving the signature ear tug of Burnett’s “Charwoman,” popularized during skits on her hit variety show, which ran for 11 seasons on CBS from 1967 to 1978.
In his ruling signed Friday and made public Monday, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson saw little if any harm done to Burnett. While he “fully appreciates how distasteful and offensive the segment is to Ms. Burnett,” Pregerson noted that parody is protected by the freedom of speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.
Good. A judge uses common sense, and now parody is protected. Carol Burnett should be sued by the federal government for wasting our courts’ time with this thing that’s been fought by others numerous times already.
Enough is enough.
[tags]carol burnett, family guy, lawsuit, parody, intellectual property[/tags]