It pains me to pit you like this, Tony. Really it does.
What’s more, a jury just found McFarlane liable for $15 million over it. Fifteen million dollars? Really? Because the gangster has the same name as an over-the-hill, retired hockey player?
Give me a break. :rolleyes:
Whoops. Finger got a little fat while typing the headline. $15 million, not $54 million.
Man, I’d pay to have my name used as a villian in a popular comic book! I think it would be kinda fun!
Wonder of much some minor celebrity like Wayne Gretsky would have gotten… :rolleyes:
There’s no lawsuit problem in this country, move along people. :rolleyes:
Nice headline: “Name in comics may costs McFarlane $15 million”
Dude, you’re dissin’ the Twister? I had previously counted you as a fellow Blues fan, but now I fear I may have to wish you into the cornfield. 
Meh. It’s just Todd McFarlane.
Personally, I don’t think the judgement is nearly harsh enough.
Trust me, this hurts me worse than it does Tony. I never thought it would come to this.
Loves me some Blues, but hates me some needless litigation even more.
Are you fucking joking? People should start going to JAIL for filing frivolous lawsuits. This motherfucker is trying to ruin a guy because he’s washed up (Newsflash Tony Twistdick: so is McFarlane) and wants free money.
I say jail jail jail for wasting people’s time and money.
I completely agree. It pains me that my tax dollars have to pay a judge’s salary while he sits there hearing this garbage.
I say jail and a good hard smack in the back of the head.
He used the player’s name without the player’s permission. That is illegal. This is not a frivolous lawsuit by any means.
The amount, on the other hand, does seem excessive. And it’s actually down from the original $24M that was awarded.
Would this be the same Tony Twist working so hard to protect his good name by appearing in the upcoming pay-per-view Battle of the Hockey Gladiators ??
I guess ridiculous carnival sideshows are one thing, but we’ve gotta protect ourselves
from the evil comic book creators of the world!!
Guess all those John Does and Joe Smiths better get some lawyers to represent them.
I’d say yes, if the real Tony Twist was a respectable businessman whose real life business and livelihood was besmirched by the use of his name for a mafia don.
As it stands, I’m not sure Twist would have even had a leg to stand on if McFarlane wasn’t such an outspoken NHL fan.
Twist’s real life reputation is a former NHL leg-and-face-breaker. This isn’t exactly a reputation that’s rife with good connotation.
I stand by frivolous as the right adjective.
It doesn’t matter what Tony Twist does or has done. All that matters is that that is his name.
For example, if a grammar school decided to paint a mural depicting characters created by the Walt Disney Company, then Disney is well within its rights to sue - because the school is using the characters without permission. They’re using them for good purposes, but that’s immaterial; they’re violating the law.
I know that some of the comments Twist made imply that he’s pissed because the character makes him look bad. That’s a frivolous angle, but that’s not why the suit was decided in his favor, from what I can see. He won the case because he IS Tony Twist. MacFarlane would have been just as culpable if he used Steve Yzerman’s name.
So how do you give your characters names, then? Can’t call anyone Joe Smith - there’s a bunch of Joe Smiths out there. Unless you just make up a name, odds are someone out there already has that name.
So do we know whether the choice of name was intentional, or a mere coincidence?
Todd McFarlane is a real asshole, and it’s pretty well established in comic book circles that he intentionally named this dispicable character after Twist in order to thumb his nose at the hockey player.
Anyone who brings McFarlane down a notch is a-okay by me.
I’d wait for a final resolution before anyone starts moaning about the jury award.