I was also going to blog about bratz v. barbie but since it was already blogged about I just want to quickly add something....I think it is interesting that Barbie effectively ran Bratz out of business for "copying" their doll when in reality the original Barbie was based on a European doll and when Barbie was created over here, the first Barbie doll looked EXACTLY like the doll found in Europe.

ok, so being that before the presentations I had never thought that this whole idea of copyright/trademarks and restaurants was even an issue but apparently it is and now 'm beginning to notice it! According to this lawsuit, " CBS is challenging a new Des Moines barbecue restaurant over copyright issues. Jethro's, a restaurant in the Drake neighborhood on Forest Avenue, has been warned it is violating CBS property rights for its references to the Beverly Hill Billies TV show. CBS said Jethro's menu depicts characters clearly recognizable from the popular 60s TV show. Jethro's owners said their artwork is original and portrays a stereotype." Now this I understand as a copyright infringement because they are using the likeness of a TV show character. Its the fact that Jethro's says that the artwork is "original" and shows a "stereotype" that murks up the concept. Being that I have not seen the artwork myself I can not weigh into this argument BUT (a) it is interesting to look at it with the notion that it is a stereotype because it represents a general group not a specific person and (2) the fact that it was an original artwork is interesting but as seen in music it is still a reproduction or copying even if someone else created it first.